A Malaria Survey of Madarihat and Its Environs

Dr. BANAMALI GHOSH, M.n. (Cal.), d.p.ii. (Cal.), Assistant to the Assistant Director of Public Health, Malaria Research, Bengal. This paper has been written chiefly for the purpose of showing those who are interested in the malaria problem the importance of a mosquito survey before launching any scheme to reduce malaria in a locality. To improve the health of Madarihat a proposal was made by the local authority under concern to connect the borrow pits along-side the Bengal Dooars Railway line and drain into the nearest river. This proposal being referred to the Public Health Department for opinion, a malaria survey was conducted in the month of May 1929 by the junior writer under the guidance of the senior writer to find out the actual conditions regarding the breeding of anopheline mosquitoes which are responsible for malaria at Madarihat. The survey was undertaken in the month of May because hospital records showed that the malaria incidence begins to rise by about May at Madarihat and reaches its highest point in July or August. A thorough search was made over an area of about one square mile. Madarihat is within the Jalpaiguri Dooars. It is a small place located at the terminus of the Bengal Dooars Railway. The open ground on which this colony is located has been the result