Raigarh tops in filaria and hydrocele cases in the State, officials said on Tuesday. It has recorded 1097 filaria and 3214 hydrocele cases. The State has reported as many as 10,743 filaria and hydrocele cases and the highest number of cases have been reported from Raigarh, officials said.
Similarly, Janjgir-Champa and Mahasamund districts have also reported large number of such cases. While 707 filaria and 196 hydrocele cases have been reported in Janjgir-Champa district, 424 filaria and 1058 hydrocele cases have been reported in Mahasamund district.
To prevent the disease, the State government has launched a campaign across the State and is distributing medicines free of charge to each household.
During the three-day campaign, the Health Department has aimed to cover more than one-and-a-half crore people, State Programme Officer (Malaria) Dr V Jai Prakash said.
Speaking to reporters, District Malaria Officer Dr Aswini Dewangan said both the diseases are caused by mosquito bite. The diseases have been found in 16 districts of the State, including Raipur.
While 4,093 people have been affected by filaria, 60,650 people were found affected by hydrocele, they said. Medicines are being distributed to the people every year across the State free of charge.
He said the government has aimed to distribute medicines to 64.50 lakh people. About 27,417 medicine distributors have been engaged in the work. One supervisor has been engaged for every ten medicine distributors.
As many as 2,742 supervisors have been engaged for the work. Officials said those who consume the medicine once in a year do not get affected by the disease. If they do not consume the medicine, they are likely to get the disease after six years.