ICMR to study large number of malaria deaths in Northeast

Agartala:A team of experts from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) would study the virulent form of malaria that has claimed a large number of lives in northeastern states, an official said here on Wednesday.
A team of ICMR experts is now visiting Tripura to study why malaria has caused the large number of deaths in the state, a Tripura health department official said here. The ICMR experts after visiting the states of northeastern region would analyse the cause of the malarial deaths and “also suggest possible preven-tive measures to the concer-ned state govern-ments,” the official added.All the northeastern states, besides West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharas-htra, Gujarat and Karnataka, are highly malaria-prone.
Over 100 people die every year from the disease in the seven northeastern states, excluding Sikkim.According to NVBDCP, malaria claimed 1,018 lives in 2010 in India, 754 in 2011, 519 in 2012, 440 in 2013, and 350 so far this year(IANS)