ALAPPUZHA: In what could be a called a breakthrough in the fight against filariasis, the Filariasis Chemotherapy Unit (FCU) in Alappuzha has found the early damage caused to the lymph vessels by the adult filarial worms, is reversible.
With the World Health Organisation (WHO) approving the findings of the FCU led by Dr R K Shenoy, it could well help in early detection and treatment of filariasis in children.
The study has got the approval of the World Health Organisation’s Ethics Review Committee and the Institutional Ethics Committee of the TD Medical College Hospital in Alappuzha.
Lymphatic filariasis (caused by Brugian Filariasis) in its first stage damages the lymph vessels and in course of time leads to swelling of limbs and genitals and was believed to be irreversible even with treatment.
The antifilarial drug, in doses employed in the Mass Drug Administration (MDA) of the WHO’s Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF), will help reverse lymphatic pathology in children affected with ‘Brugia Malayi’, the study says.
Dr Suma, Dr V Kumaraswami, Dr N Rahmah, Dr Dhananjayan and Dr S Padma were other members of the team.
As part of the research which began in 2004, 100 infected children from Ambalappuzha and Alappuzha municipalities were selected to receive single dose of diethylcarbamazine (DEC) and albendazole every 6 months, for next three years. Of the 100 children, 32 had microfilaria in their blood, 29 had filarial disease and 39 were filarial antibody-positive.
The children were in the age group of 3-15 years and were picked up from 7,934 children who were screened at 178 blood examination camps. Of the 100 children, who enrolled for the 36-month follow-up, 95 completed all seven rounds of treatment while the other five lost to follow-up at various point of time.
Dr Shenoy told ‘Express’ that by the time of the last follow-up at the end of three years, all the children who had microfilaria were cleared off the parasites from their blood. The ‘filarial dance sign’ (FDS), indicating the presence of live adult worms was not seen in any of them after the second dose of the drug, he said.