PANAJI, May 2: Mosquitoes have put the bite on Goa once more, with memories of last year's epidemic returning to haunt the Health Department. The government has dispatched malaria control teams to susceptible areas and has begun screening migrant labourers, prime hosts for the female anopheles mosquito. Most of these migrant labourers come to Goa from Maharashtra and Karnataka.The department detected 21,000 cases last year, when 58 persons succumbed to the dreaded malarial fever. In 1996, 11,000 cases were detected, statistics indicate.With the monsoon next month, another epidemic stares Goa in the face. The state government has already identified chronic epidemic-prone zones, the worst affected being the capital, Panaji, and nearby areas like Porvorim and Candolim and Margao town. Health Department officials say these areas accounted for most of the casualties last year.In his affidavit before the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court, the state's Director of Health Services, A V Salelkar, saidfrenetic construction activity in these areas turned them into breeding grounds for mosquitoes as stagnant water abounds.In response to the suo motu petition before the court, Salelkar explained that construction workers coming to Goa from other states were infected with malarial parasites which have found a favourable host in the state. The state government has already initiated measures to screen labourers in the construction industry, with nearly 5,000 being put through the exercise so far.Following its assurances before the court, the Health Department has sent malaria control teams to affected areas. Comprising of a malaria inspector, two surveillance workers, four anti-larval workers, and one superior field worker, the squads have collected blood samples and begun disinfecting stagnant water. Deputy Chief Minister Dr Wilfred D'Souza, who also holds charge of the health portfolio, inaugurated an Inter-State Border meet on malaria last week, which will suggest measures to be undertakenjointly by Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa. He says the delegates will draft a blueprint to eradicate the epidemic.
