Malaria cases are on the rise in Karnataka in recent months. The state government has been receiving reports about the increasing number of cases from its 27 district health headquarters. The state government will be shortly setting up a special fund for the purchase and supply of drugs and pesticides to control malaria as the Union government had stopped the grant for the control of diseases caused by mosquitoes, which include malaria, filaria, Japanese encephalitis and Dengu fever.

In addition, the State government has introduced steps to prevent malaria by introducing the bio-ecological prevention method (introducing larvae of fishes like 'Gymbisia' and 'Gappi' into ponds) all over the State. Although no statistics were available on the number of cases affected with the disease with the department of health and family welfare, the Malaria Research Centre which functions under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in Bangalore has reported 11 cases early this month.

Of the 11 who have been tested positive for malaria two are children and were earlier diagnosed for dengue fever. Though Bangalore is known for the presence of female anopheles mosquito, which is the carrier of malaria, their density is not to the extent of causing malaria in the city. However, the majority of the malaria cases have a clear cut history of patients having travelled to other districts in the State, Dr. SK Ghosh, assistant director and in charge of the malaria centre said.

In 2001, there were as many as 37,423 cases of malaria reported in the State. In the 90s around three lakh cases were reported in Karnataka but the epidemic has been brought under control to a considerable extent as in 2000 only 1.09 cases were reported with malaria. The high incidence of the epidemic is usually been reported in Chitradurga, Udupi, Mandya, Mysore and Kolar districts, informed sources from the health and family welfare department.

The State government has announced a month long malaria awareness programme which was inaugurated by Kagodu Thimmappa, minister for health and family welfare, government of Karnataka. The State's massive awareness programme had been taken up to tackle the menace by distributing poster, banners and identifying the crucial places where the spread of the disease was rampant.

Though malaria is often seasonal coinciding with the rainy season, leading to the breeding of mosquito in water, Bangalore's climate is favourable for the spread of the disease around the year. But with the monsoons delayed, there seems to no reasons for the spread of the disease in the city, he informed.

In order to check the spread, the state government hospitals treating patients for tuberculosis, dengue and other diseases have been alerted to refer the tests to the Malaria Research Centre which has been regularly monitoring the mosquitoes in Bangalore to check the spread of malaria.

The Malaria Research Centre in association with the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, the city corporation whose officials visit the suspected place with a team of entomotologists to ascertain the significance of the disease. Based on the survey taken up by the Malaria Research Centre, the health department officials make recommendations to the department to be followed while checking the spread of the disease, said Dr. Ghosh.