'Got diagnosed before condition worsened'

Vilas Shirge never thought the mild fever he had been suffering from for a few days would be diagnosed as malaria and necessitate being admitted to a hospital.

Vilas Shirge never thought the mild fever he had been suffering from for a few days would be diagnosed as malaria and necessitate being admitted to a hospital.

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"My colony is in a fairly clean locality and has no water logging. But debris from newly constructed buildings is still lying in an open area closeby, which may have caused more mosquito breeding," said Shirge.

The 42-year-old, who stays at Gandhi Nagar, Bandra (East), has never suffered from malaria before. So when he came down with a fever on July 28, Shirge dismissed it as a mild viral infection. He visited his family physician on July 30, when the fever showed no signs of receding.

"I didn't have a high fever. A very low platelet count prompted my doctor to refer me for a malaria blood test," he said.

"His blood platelet count on Saturday was 52,000 (the normal range is 1,50,000 — 4,50,000). By Sunday, it fell to 16,000," said Dr Bhupendra Vora, his physician.

"I am lucky that it was diagnosed before my condition worsened," he added.

He is likely to be discharged on Wednesday.