Jamshedpur: Nine more people tested positive for cerebral malaria in Potka block of Jharkhand’s East Singhbhum district, taking the total count of such cases in the area to 150 in the last one week, an official said on Thursday.
The district administration has intensified screening for such a vector-borne disease, he said.
“A total of 3,000 samples have been tested in the Potka block since June 24. Around 150 people, including nine found positive on Wednesday, have been detected with cerebral malaria,” the official said.
Cerebral malaria is a life-threatening neurological complication of Plasmodium Falciparum infection, resulting in coma and severe brain damage.
The majority of cases have been reported from villages such as Kandar and Hithbasa, where medical teams are continuously monitoring the situation, providing medicines, distributing mosquito nets, and taking precautionary measures, the official said.
“Nine cerebral malaria-positive patients were admitted to a hospital in the Potka block, while 45 others have been undergoing treatment in Sadar Hospital, Jamshedpur,” he said.
Four children died of cerebral malaria since the first case of such vector-borne disease was reported last week.
