Along with the government, private agencies in the city are gearing up to combat malaria, which makes its annual comeback with the monsoon.

Involved in the mission is Chetla-based Centromap, an organisation that has achieved ?rare success? with its ?unconventional treatment? of the disease. Inspired by the success, even the state health department is considering adopting Centromap?s malaria management model.

Elaborating on the ?unconventional approach?, Amitava Nandi, technical director of the centre for research in tropical and communicable diseases, says: ?We first confirm the disease and then start medication. In the conventional method, doctors start administering medicine without waiting for the test results.?

Nandi insists prescribing the right drug is crucial, since the various malaria-causing parasites react differently to medicines, depending on the constitution of the patient and the stage of the disease.

?And the right drug cannot be prescribed unless we know the details of the parasite and its stage from the test,? he says, adding that the unconventional method has been ?very successful? of late.

Another reason he cites against indiscriminate administration of medicine is that the parasites become resistant to drugs quickly.

A ?misconception? Nandi wants to debunk is to wait for fever to draw blood for malaria tests. ?This is nonsense. If a person has the malarial parasite, the test will reveal it, no matter whether or not he has fever when blood is being drawn,? Nandi asserts.

Centromap has also conducted a survey in Chetla and central Calcutta on the methods of treatment. The unconventional method was followed in Chelta and the traditional method in central Calcutta.

The number of malaria cases in Chetla dropped from 56 per cent in 1999 to 24 per cent in 2003. In central Calcutta, the drop was from 50 per cent to 43 per cent.

?The cases of recurrence dropped sharply after we started identifying the parasite first and then starting treatment. Unlike a few years ago, we can now think of eradicating malaria. With cases of recurrence dropping, we were sure of success, and we did taste success,? Nandi signs off.