Date:07/11/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/11/07/stories/2009110755780300.htm

Kerala - Kozhikode

Programme to contain filariasis

Staff Reporter

Kozhikode: The Health Department will conduct the next round of Mass Drug Administration (MDA) programme for the elimination of filariasis in the district on November 11.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, District Medical Officer (DMO) M.K. Jeevan and National Centre for Disease Control Joint Director M.K. Shoukath Ali said specially trained health volunteers will visit houses and various institutions in the district and directly distribute the diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) and albendazole tablets on the day.

“We advise people to take the medicine in the presence of the health volunteers when it is distributed,” Dr. Jeevan said.

He said the drive was intended to cover 28 lakh people in the district.

MDA is a WHO-endorsed strategy for the global eradication of filariasis by 2015. The programme is to be continued for five more years for the successful elimination of the organism, microfilariae.

The drug coverage in the community should be over 80 per cent for this strategy to be successful, Dr. Ali said.

He pointed out that it was necessary to administer the drug to all in the community in less than 48 hours as 85 per cent of the population remains asymptomatic carriers of microfilaria.

The tablet should be taken after lunch as it could otherwise cause gastric problems, they said.