The Hindu : Karnataka / Mangalore News : Drive planned against spread of filariasis

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 19, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mangalore

Drive planned against spread of filariasis

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE, MAY 18. Filariasis or elephantiasis that afflicts people of all age groups has not been eradicated from Dakshina Kannada. According to a sample survey conducted in the district a few years ago, the disease was prevalent among 20 per cent of the population, the District Health and Family Welfare Officer, Mohan Raj, has said.

Filariasis was a disease in which limbs became abnormally enlarged and the skin thickened. As part of the National Filariasis Disease Eradication Day on June 5, the department would launch a campaign in Mangalore, Bantwal, and Puttur taluks by distributing medicines to prevent the spread of the disease. He said the Government aimed at eradicating filariasis by 2015. The disease caused by a worm spread from one person to another through the mosquito Culexfatigans.

Dr. Raj said the department, in association with the non-governmental organisations, would launch a door-to-door campaign in the three taluks to distribute diethyscarbamazine medicine to prevent the spread of the disease. The campaign would focus on taking measures to control the mosquito that spread the disease.

Dr. Raj said by taking the medicine, the health of the people would not be affected. But it could cause vomiting, headache, fever, and body pain among the infected persons. Such persons would be treated in the nearby health centres. He said the disease could aggravate six months or one year after the infection. He said the department had aimed at distributing medicine to 1,43,39,740 persons in 2,90,798 houses in the district on June 5. Nearly 4,800 field level workers and 485 supervisors would be involved in the campaign that would cover 245 villages.

He said those who had been left out under the programme would be covered on June 6, 7, and 8.

Dr. Raj appealed to the people to cooperate with health authorities on that day to make the campaign a success.

240 cases in Udupi

Our Udupi Staff Correspondent reports:

The Deputy Commissioner of Udupi district, S.R. Umashankar, said on Tuesday that Udupi would be one of the eight districts in the State to observe Filariasis Eradication Day on June 5. He told presspersons here that the district administration would be distributing the Diethyl Carbamazine Citrate (DEC) tablets to 10 lakh persons in the district. Children aged below two, aged persons, seriously ill persons and pregnant women would not be given these tablets.

The health authorities concerned would decide the dosage of tablets.

He said 240 cases of Filariasis had been reported in the district that included 86 cases from Kundapur taluk, 144 from Udupi taluk, and 10 from Karkala taluk. Since the distribution of the tablets was a big exercise, it would be taken up with the help of voluntary organisations, and anganwadi workers. The volunteers were expected to visit two lakh houses in the district. The tablets would be made available at all schools, anganwadis, bus stands, and other public places. The gram panchayats and urban local bodies had been instructed to take steps to control the growth of mosquitoes that were carriers of the disease.

Those affected filariasis not only had to bear with physical problems, but also psychological problems. The working capacity of a person affected by this disease was curtailed.

According to government estimates, Rs. 4,000 crore was being lost annually because of filariasis. It was among the six diseases that the World Health Organisation wanted to eradicate.

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