This is what I picked up from the morning papers today. Does it surprise you that we have a Malaria Epidemic like scenario in Bandra and surrounding areas? The rains have been playing hide-n-seek with us for the last few days and you can feel the high level of humidity in the air. So this is perfect time for mosquitoes to breed.

Its probably fashionable to blame the builders for all our problems so I will not stay away from that and will blame endless real estate development in Bandra for aggravating the mosquito and therefore the malaria problem. In every lane of Bandra west , Khar west and Santacruz West we find old building giving way to new buildings. These building locations become a mess during monsoon and are becoming ideal breeding ground for mosquitos.

The most common symptom of malaria is fever, when the body temperature is high. The fever from malaria usually comes very suddenly. The people who have Malaria often feel like they had influenza.

Symptoms of malaria are:

Arthralgia (pain in joints)

Headache (pain in head)

Vomitting

Feeling very tired or sleepy

Anemia(low red blood cellslevels in the blood)

Cough

Enlargement of liver or spleen (enlargement means it gets bigger)

Sweating

Chills (feeling very cold)

Delirium (when people are very confused because of a disease. They may look drunk. They may not be able to talk.)

Coma (when people are not conscious. They look like they are asleep, but they cannot be woken. )

Fast heart rate

Low blood pressure.

So how do we save ourselves and stay safe(101 ways):

• - Try and keep doors and windows netted and closed during the evenings.
• - Use mosquito repellents (do more harm but then don’t over do it).
• - Get your cooperative societies to have a meeting to identify water logging, cover all water tanks and try fumigation/pest control.
• - Call the local municipal officers or the central complaint registration phone number: 1916 or file a complaint on their web site.

Be Safe……..