AGARTALA, September 4 (TIWN): An baimaii, an Anopheles species, was mainly responsible for the massive outbreak of malaria in may this year in Tripura – a disease that cost 87 lives till date, a report submitted by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) said.

Mosquitoes were collected from five villages of three districts of the state during a visit of a high level team of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Prograjmme (NVBDCP) at the peak of malaria outbreak in Tripura. The delegation headed by Additional Director of the apex vector borne disease expert panel collected 124 mosquito specimens from the state to be later tested by entomological experts at the ICMR.

The report submitted to the central and state government post test suggested that out of 124 species of mosquitoes collected during the process, 50 percent were identified to be Anopheles baimaii.

Eleven percent of An baimaii in the study were found infected with plasmodium falciparum, which happens to be the cause of 98 percent malaria deaths in Tripura according to state Health Department statistics.

Experts suggested that Anopheles baimaii, being exophilic in nature and having biting habits starting early in the summer evenings, around 6 PM to be more particular, are very difficult to control and  an cause high malaria case loads.

“The overbearing presence of Anopheles baimaii might have been the case with Tripura”, the ICMR report suggested.

A source in the Department of Health and Family Welfare later said that Jirania registsred the lowest per trap density of the mosquito species while Mungiyakami recorded the highest among villages considered for entomological survey.