by Sharmisha DeyMUMBAI
, Aug
. 2 -- The monsoon brought much happiness to Mumbaiites this year -- rainfall has been good and temperatures remained down; it has been the wettest monsoon, in five years, with the month of July recording the highest amount of rainfall.Perhaps this explains the record spike in malaria cases, never seen in the last three decades.Malaria is an infectious disease caused by a parasite transmitted by mosquitoes. The illness is characterized by recurrent attacks of fever and chills, and may be deadly in the absence of early and effective diagnosis, and treatment.In the 1970's, Maharashtra was declared a malaria-free state by the World Health Organization (WHO) -- compared that to the statistics of current times --this year, there are reports of 13, 818 Mumbaiites testing positive for malaria in the month of July -- the number of cases have only trebled since July last year, which recorded 4,380 positive malaria cases
.The climate in Mumbai is conducive for optimum breeding of mosquitoes
, responsible for transmission of malarial infection. At the same time, the city is a builders' haven and mushrooming of construction activities
, combined with high humidity levels, have contributed to an increase in malaria cases, in the last couple of years.Maharashtra's local political party has been outspoken in its concerns over the increasing number of malaria patients; Uddhav Thackeray, the executive president of the party, has made vociferous protests against the influx of migrants of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar into the city
, responsible for bringing the disease.Related Topics Articles：
