Malaria taking toll on BSF jawans

Seven jawans have died this year due to cerebral malaria while more than one third of the 3000 jawans are affected by it.

BSF jawans posted along the 856 km-long porous border with Bangladesh are fighting a new enemy.

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Seven jawans have died this year due to cerebral malaria while more than one third of the 3000 jawans posted along the border are affected by the disease.

"We always put on mosquito masks and wear gloves because only two mosquito bites of this jungle can cause deadly cerebral malaria due to infection of Plasmodium falcipaprum virus," said Jaipal Soni, company commander and in-charge of this border outpost.

"We even rub mosquito repellent gel before going to the toilet," Soni said.

J A Khan, Inspector-General of BSF of Tripura Frontier said, "last year, we lost eight jawans and seven jawans this year in the state because many of our outposts are located in far-flung areas where minimum facilities of primary treatment are absent."

The BSF mans 21 border outposts in far-flung areas which are well equipped with malaria kits and diagnostic devices.

The state government has sought help from the BSF to control malaria and other infectious diseases, health officials said.

Tripura was declared a hyper endemic malaria zone and most of the remote places were identified as malaria-prone and drug resistant.