A medical panel has claimed that the total number deaths caused by malaria are about 40 times higher than the current estimates.

A committee of the Indian Council of Medical Research with 16 members said that the total number of malaria deaths in the country was recorded at 40,297, which is as much as 40 times higher than present estimates. There are several initiatives launched for increasing awareness about the disease on the World Malaria Day 2013.

Experts have said that Plasmodium Vivax is the most common form of Malaria affecting the people in the country and it estimated that 60 per cent of Indians are infected with this type of malaria. Even as the infection is not fatal it may lead to liver and kidney failure and it has the highest possibility of recurrence.

The Plasmodium Ovale is a rarest form of malaria found in India but is more spread in Nigeria and other west African countries. Plasmodium Falciparum is the most dangerous form of the disease as it affects brain and nervous system while Plasmodium Malariae leaves the patient with damaged immune system. This form of malaria is not commonly found in the country.

Health works and experts pointed out that malaria is a completely preventable disease, cannot be transmitted from one person to another and is completely curable.