RAICHUR: Seven persons, including five children, have died of suspected malaria in the last fifteen days in K. Irabgera village of Deodurga in the district, according to reports reaching here on Sunday.

Gopalakrishna, an 18-month-old boy, and Bheemambika, a four-year-old girl, died of suspected malaria on Thursday and Friday respectively.

According to sources, five persons, including three children, died last week. While the District Health and Family Welfare Department here has not confirmed the cause of these deaths, suspicions that they may have been due to malaria have been raised as many people in the village have been suffering from high fever over the last few days.

District Health and Family Welfare Officer H.S. Hiregoudar, who has been camping at the village since Saturday, told The Hindu here on Sunday that preliminary investigations seemed to indicate that diseases other than malaria had been responsible for the deaths. The department has referred the cases to the Department of Virology, Bangalore, for further investigations.

Mr. Hiregoudar said that the department had tested blood samples of 580 people suspected of having been affected by malaria, and 121 had tested positive. It had taken up fogging in the village and distributed mosquito nets to the people. A team of specialists, including two para-medical teams, had camped in the village to treat suspected cases.

Precautionary

Minister in charge of the district Alkod Hanumanthappa, who visited the village on Sunday, has asked officials to take all precautionary measures to contain the spread of the disease in the village, and to initiate action to shift those affected to the Rajiv Gandhi Superspeciality Hospital here.

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