Mangaluru: Intermittent rain across the city since June has led to a spike in malaria cases. Of the total 634 cases found positive for malaria in July in Dakshina Kannada, 588 were from the city. Of the 423 cases in June, 384 were from the city, according to office of the District Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (DVBDCP) Officer.

DVBDCP Officer Arun Kumar S.B. told that the number of the cases found in July this year were almost the same as that found in the corresponding month last year.

Of the 588 cases of malaria, 465 were inflicted with the Plasmodium vivax stream of malaria, while 123 were serious Plasmodium falciparum (PF) stream of malaria. Of the 384 cases, 335 are of Plasmodium vivax malaria cases while 59 were Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

There were 233 cases of malaria in the district in May, while it was 175 in April.

According to physician B.V. Kakkilaya, who has been treating malaria patients and working in combating the infection, construction workers continue to be prone to the infection. Hotel workers, nomadic workers and inmates of hostels and orphanages are the others who get infected.

The Mangaluru City Corporation and the DVBDCP have, since 2015, been using software developed by Mangalore Medical Relief Society that helps in the detection of the source of malaria, treatment of patients and vector control. Health personnel from the corporation and DVBDCP involved in malaria control have been using tabs loaded with this software.

The malaria cases has prompted the Urban Health Centres to distribute mosquito nets across the 60 wards in the city. Dr. Kumar said that the mosquito nets were being issued to households belonging to below poverty line category. In the areas where incidence of malaria was more, these nets are being given free to other households too, he said.

The mosquito nets were distributed by personnel from the Urban Health Centre, Jeppu, on Saturday. Jeppu is among the few places in the city that has a high cases of malaria. The mosquito nets were given to people after taking their blood smears.