Nearly 120 people have been diagnosed with malaria in the last 10 months in Bardiya district alone. Organizing a press meet here on Thursday, Dr Guna Raj Lohani, the medical superintendent at Bardiya Hospital said that 11 patients were suffering from fatal malaria called plasmodium falciparum. "Hundred-and-five other patients are suffering from plasmodium vivax, considered less dangerous than falciparum," he added. An official however, claimed that the number of fatal plasmodium falciparum patients had been gradually decreasing in the district. On the occasion, Chief of Epidemic and Disease Control Division, Dhan Prasad Poudel said that altogether 12 districts including Bardiya were malaria-affected in the country. Meanwhile, District Public Health Office (DPHO) Ilam urged all concerned stakeholders and the general public to be very serious about the issue of malaria epidemic. Dinesh Chapagain, chief at DPHO informed that 69 persons were affected by malaria in the district in 2063/64 BS. "We have been organizing different campaigns in the district to make locals aware of the dangerous disease," he claimed. International Malaria Awareness Day is being observed all around the world on Friday. Be alert against malaria: experts Experts have said people should remain alert about Malaria as monsoon nears and mercury is shooting up. "There are some regions where people should remain alert as the season for the disease nears," said Dr Dr Manas K. Bannergee, malaria expert and project coordinator of Avian Influenza Project. "It is curable if received treatment on time." He was speaking at a press meet organized on the eve of World Malaria Day, to be celebrated throughout the world for the first time. Dr G. D. Thakur, chief of Disease Control Section said, "Only 10 out of 75 districts in the country are safe from the risk of malaria." Though 65 districts are at risk the government has given focus on 13 districts from where the cases of the disease are reported. He said 22.8 million people remain at some level of risk of malaria in Nepal. Dr Bannergee said that the people should be made aware of latest technology to prevent themselves from the disease. Symptoms of falciparum malaria, which is a hard type; are high fever, shaking, continuous vomiting, not being able to recognize own relatives, not being able to swallow food, even medicine, and fainting. Dr. Thakur said that the government distributed 340,000 nets last year. Of the total recipients, 86 percent receive for free while 14 percent were charged Rs. 150 each. "One net per family was distributed and they were suggested to prioritize children and women to sleep under the net as they are at higher risk," Dr Thakur said. This year the government is planning to distribute 200,000 more nets, which would be absolutely for free and it would be one per two persons. Dr L.B. Thapa, director of Epidemiology and Disease Control Division said that the global warming and imported cases of malaria from India has remained a great challenge in controlling malaria in the county. In 2007, 4,220 positive cases of malaria were tested. Meanwhile, UNICEF has issued a statement on the eve of world day. "It is unacceptable that malaria still kills more than one million people, mostly children, every year around the world," the statement quoted UNICEF Executive Director Ann M.Veneman as saying.