123Pune.com

PUNE: The mass drug administration (MDA) drive for prevention of filaria under the National Filaria Control Programme (NFCP) began in the state
this week. The drive will cover 17 filaria-sensitive districts.

The filaria parasite affects the legs or scrotum of a person. If the legs are affected it is called elephantiasis and if the scrotum is affected it is called hydrocele. “As per a recent survey, there are 82,865 cases of elephantiasis in the state, while 32,354 have been detected with hydroceles,” said Yashwant Doiphode, deputy director of health services, Pune. The national programme is aimed at total eradication of filaria in the country by 2015, he added.

“There are 17 filaria sensitive districts in the state. They are Thane, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Solapur, Sindhudurg, Nanded, Latur, Usmanabad, Akola, Amaravati, Yavatmal, Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Gondia,” said Doiphode.

The five-day long door-to-door single drug campaign using diethyl carbamazine (DEC) started in urban areas from November 10. In rural areas, it will begin some time between November 10 and 12. As many as 2.93 crore people will be targeted during
the programme.

In Maharashtra, the programme is monitored by the joint director of health services (malaria), located in Pune.

There are 16 National Filaria Control Units (NFCU) in the state which are mainly involved in controlling vector density by spraying larvicides.

“During the campaign, weekly schedule for detection of patients will cover all the sensitive areas, and the affected patients will be treated with DEC tablets,” said state entomologist Ashok Bhosale.

The Union government has allocated 7.5 crore DES tablets for the campaign. “We have decided to rope in state government departments like education, forest, women and child welfare, etc, to make this campaign successful,” said Bhosale.

A state-level steering committee has been formed under the health minister, besides district steering committees led by district collectors to spearhead the campaign, he added.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pune/State_launches_drive_against_fil...