Dhaka, Oct 25 (bdnews24.com) ? The government has declared five districts free of the crippling mosquito-borne filariasis disease, for the first time in Bangladesh after years of mass drug administration. State minister for health Mozibur Rahman Fakir, on Tuesday, announced the name of the districts - Meherpur, Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Patuakhali and Barguna ? where the prevalence rate for the parasitic disease, also known as elephantiasis, was found to be below one percent.
Civil surgeons of those districts were also present at the ceremony in the capital.
Directorate General of Health Services record shows the parasite once posed a threat to over 70 million people in 19 districts and had incapacitated 2 to 3 percent of the victims, exposing them to social stigma and financial hardships.
"But now it's coming under control," director (disease control) Be-Nazir Ahmed said, commending the role of grassroots health officials.
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 the disease by 2015.
The transmission of the disease can be interrupted by administrating drugs once a a year for five years to at least 70 percent people of an identified area.
According to experts, the parasites lodge in the lymphatic system, an essential component of the body's defence system, and disrupts 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.
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Source: bdnews24.com
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