Meghalaya to Fight Malaria With Fishes

Shillong, Mar 19 : With malaria being a perennial menace in the state, the state government has turned to a fish variety to kill mosquito at larval stage.
State health department has planned to distribute a fish, Gambusia Affinis, which eats mosquito larvae.

"More than 2000 carps of the fish were released at the fishery complex at Chasingre near Tura on Tuesday," informed West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Sanjay Goyal.

The fish breeds fast and one carp give birth to nearly 2,000 in three months.

"After breeding them, we plan to distribute it to the people through the public health centres," Goyal said.

He said a recent survey indicated that there were around 9,000 stagnant water bodies in West Garo Hills district alone, which are vulnerable to breeding malarial mosquitoes.

Gambusia, also called mosquito fish, is a natural predator of mosquito larvae and a large fish eat more than 200 larvae in an hour.

According to a health department study, the prevalence of malaria is about 16,656 per one lakh population which is five times more than the national average of 3697.

More than 200 people die of malaria each year, sources said.