Mumbai: Cases of Plasmodium falciparum malaria—the deadliest strain—rose from 375 to 2,382 between 2015 and 2025 in the city, driving up its share of the total cases from 5.5% to 25.3%, shows BMC health department’s data.BMC officials attributed the 535.2% jump to an increase in testing, but testing went up by 32.3% in the same period —from 14,28,265 to 18,89,012.Dr Mahendra Jagtap, state entomologist, noted that the shift occurred post Covid, driven largely by labour migration from east India and Chhattisgarh. “Gadchiroli is another district where we have observed a similar trend and matching labour migration patterns. Mumbai also sees a year-on-year increase because of the high prevalence of Anopheles mosquitoes.”P. falciparum can cause severe organ failure, while the more common strain—P. vivax—is milder and mostly causes recurring relapses. Doctors said both can lead to complications if patients delay treatment. According to Nitesh Dhide (39), when his father started showing symptoms last week, the family initially thought it was fever that would disappear with over-the-counter medicines. “He experienced dark urine too, but it was not flagged in time. By the time we admitted him to hospital, he had developed anaemia. There was also swelling in his liver,” he said, adding that he was diagnosed with P. falciparum malaria.Dr Hemalata Arora, internal medicine specialist at Nanavati Hospital, said patients with P. falciparum malaria often get sicker because people tend to treat the illness as a common flu. “Haemoglobin drops dramatically, alongside kidney dysfunction. In the first two days, one cannot easily distinguish between different fevers. But high-grade fever along with dehydration, nausea and vomiting calls for an immediate doctor visit.”Dr Manjusha Agarwal, general physician at Gleneagles Hospital, said patients with P. falciparum often present with more severe headaches but respond well to treatment. “We have seen severe complications in P. vivax, too. If either strain is treated in time, there should not be much trouble.”
