Surat: The implementation of elimination of lymphatic filariasis (ELF) program by Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) can become a model to develop guidelines and strategies to curb other diseases and infections including Covid-19 in an urban Indian setting.
The findings of the study done by Dr.
Anjali Modi, assistant professor of preventive and social medicine at Government Medical College (GMC), Surat, SMC and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine show that the SMC’s method of mass drug administration and the intensive surveys helped in bringing down positive microfilaria cases by over 63% during the program period from 2008 to 2016.
A research article on the study was recently published in the UK-based Infectious Diseases of Poverty journal.
The study finds that SMC’s method of conducting surveys of approximately 2,000 to 4,000 people per month around the year from across the city even if there was no prevalence of microfilaria and disease largely helped.
“This survey was beyond what the World Health Organization (WHO) considered adequate,” said Modi.
WHO’s recommendations are to carry out an annual survey of approximately 4,000 people from four fixed and four random sites.
SMC’s staff of vector-borne disease control department covered all zones of the city right up to the ‘mohalla’ and household levels irrespective of prevalence of disease.
During the day, while the peripheral health workers would conduct the door-to-door surveys to check filaria morbidity cases, at night, blood samples used to be taken from all these houses.
During the blood test if somebody was found positive for microfilaremia, doctors would visit them and counsel them.
“There was regular training, monitoring and field visits by public health experts which helped in not losing the focus,” said Modi, who also used to visit the positive patients.
“This disease, if diagnosed at an early stage, can be cured and the surveys helped in this direction,” said Modi.
“The same methods can be adopted for testing, tracking and treating of any other disease including Covid-19 and even for vaccination,” she said.
Modi added that having a separate vector-borne control department in SMC added to the benefit.
“But this activity should be continued over the years and not stopped otherwise the efforts go futile,” she said.
SMC’s work on curbing filariasis can be model for the country, finds study
