5 dists become filariasis-free

Dhaka, Oct 24 – Mosquito-borne crippling filariasis disease that once posed threat to over 70 million Bangladeshis is almost under control.

Director (disease control), Directorate General for Health Be-Nazir Ahmed told bdnews24.com that they would declare five out of 19 endemic districts free of the terrible disease on Tuesday after years of mass drug administration.

Those five districts—Meherpur, Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Patuakhali and Barguna—would be the first ones in Bangladesh to be declared as filariasis-free after they satisfied the criteria of less than one percent prevalence rate, as spelt out set the health directorate.

The parasitic disease also known as elephantiasis is widespread in northern districts.

"We would celebrate the milestone in the capital to show it (filariasis) can be beaten," Be-Nazir said, adding the parasite had incapacitated its 2 to 3 percent victims, exposing them to social stigma and financial troubles.

"Many women were divorced because of this ailment," he said.

The health directorate has been conducting the mass drug administration campaigns since 2001 in line with the World Health Organisation's call to eliminate filariasis that affects world's poor countries. Bangladesh targets to eliminate it by 2015.

"We started with one district and gradually strengthened our programmes," the director said and added the transmission of the disease can be interrupted by administrating drugs once in a year for five years to at least 70 percent people of an identified area.

"Sometimes it requires higher number of doses, based on the success of drugs being administered," he said. Sri Lanka and Maldives in South Asia are success stories in this regard, he added.

According to experts, the parasites lodge in the lymphatic system, an essential component of the body's defence system, and disrupt the lymphatic flow of blood, making the person vulnerable to infections.

Left untreated, the infection can develop into the chronic disease of which there is limited treatment. There are no preventive medicines.

"It causes disfiguration of limbs and swelling of body parts such as the genitals," Be-Nazir said, adding most of the time when the symptoms appear, not much can be done about it.

Fever, cough, chills, wheezing, and pain and swelling in the arms, breast, scrotum, penis, vulva and legs are the symptoms of the disease.

"The health directorate will evaluate the disease's prevalence rate in five more districts next year as part of its elimination strategy," Be-Nazir said.
From:www.bdnews24.com