Posing a threat to lakhs of residents in the State, the Health Department has missed administering drugs to prevent filaria for the year 2013.
A Mass Drug Administration (MDA) drive which should have been held in September 2013 was not conducted last year. Filaria is a parasitic disease transmitted by blood -feeding black flies and mosquitoes. There is no cure for the disease. However; it could be prevented by consuming two tablets, Albendazole and DEC, once every year for five years.
“The stock of medicines that was received had been found sub-standard and was returned in 2013,” said District Malaria Officer Dr Ashwini Dewangan. It has been around five months since the medicines were returned but the Health Department has yet not received a fresh stock of Albendazole and DEC. It is important that the Anti-filaria drugs are administered on a person every year for at least five years to ensure immunity from the infection. Though it is not a life-threatening infection but it can cause lasting damage to the lymphatic system. The disease shows no symptoms in its initial stage and most people become aware of the disease only when they are three to four years into the infection.
Answering as to when could the already delayed drive would be held in the State, State Programme Officer Dr V Jai Prakash replied, “We had returned the stock of medicines owing to its sub-standard quality. It is expected that the new batch is received in the month of March.” The infection caused by black flies and mosquitoes is mostly seen in rural areas. In Raipur district, most number of filaria patients are seen in Aarang. People from other states have migrated to Aarang and it is believed that the infection has spread from them, said Dewangan.
The Anti-filaria MDA programme is held in the State at Primary Health Centres (PHCs). A dose of one tablet is administered on children aged zero to five years of age, two tablets on children of six to 14 years of age and three tablets on people above the age of 14.