And according to experts, the malaria has not only shown a rising trend this year, but it came with a more serious problem of exposing the patients to other serious complications as ``a direct fall-out of misuse of newer anti-malaria drugs.''

The School of Tropical Medicines (STM), which usually chalks out anti-malaria programmes in West Bengal, ``has treated more malaria patients this year till August as compared to the number of patients it treated last year till July-August.''

``This year we have two additional drugs, mefloquine and artemisinin meant for treating malaria cases when all other drugs have failed,'' said a doctor at the STM's anti-malaria cell.

While mefloquine, a very costly drug used only when any malaria patient has developed resistance to the first and second line of drugs, ``the artemisinin is usedwhen all other drugs have failed.''

Dr Amitava Nandi, chief of Parasitology Department, STM, said, ``So far we have seen several cases of misuse of mefloquine which resulted in giving rise to serious complications, like kidney failures, damaged hearts, bleeding and haemorrhages in the sensitive parts of the body.''

``And I am sure, if this is the way we misuse these drugs, we will make a huge section of the patients resistant to all the available anti-malaria drugs, besides exposing them to the terrible side-effects,'' Dr Nandi said. ``As for instance, ours tests this year have already revealed that we have made several patients resistant to another drug, sulfadoxine,'' Nandi said.

Incidentally, last year the Indian Medical Association (IMA), realising that the doctors require more training in malaria diagnosis, held several classes and seminars to train the doctors.

``But this year, till now we are not aware of such IMA plans, whereas classes this year would have checked the widespread misuse ofthese drugs,'' opined another expert who took these classes last year.

However, the Mayor of Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC), Prasanta Chatterjee, disputed the claim that ``there is a rise in malaria cases this year.''

He said: ``Our 34 free anti-malaria clinics in the city is carrying on well and we appear to have convinced the people about the urgency of getting themselves treated and we have less number of deaths this year.''

Chatterjee said ``it seems that the problem begins with the affluent section of the society who do not care to undergo the full-treatment and stay back as potential carriers of malaria.''

Notwithstanding Chatterjee's claim, the figures of the last ten years show a steady rise in the malaria cases in the CMC area. A study of species-wise distribution of malaria since 1987 in the CMC area, shows that the total number of cases in 1987 was 16,303, in 1995 it went up to 36,804 and, according to the study, next year (1996) it touched an all time high with 44,582cases.

According to the figure available in the STM, in May this year alone 1,302 tested positive out of the 4,194 cases examined. Though the total number tested positive has gone down a little in June, July and August, the number of the patients testing plasmodium falciparum, more deadly and complicated stage of malaria, has gone up.