A researcher, Dr Bamidele Iwalokun, on Wednesday urged government at all levels to make elephantiasis a priority among public health problems in the country.
Iwalokun, a researcher at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
He said that elephantiasis had not been given adequate attention in terms of resource allocation for its research, diagnosis, treatment and public enlightenment.
“Nigeria is said to be the most lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) endemic country in Africa with two third of Nigerians at risk of being affected by the disease.
“Worried by the development, the Federal Ministry of Health in 2012 launched a national guideline for the implementation of interventions to eliminate all mosquito related diseases, including malaria and elephantiasis in Nigeria.
“But this intervention has yet to be totally implemented, especially at the rural areas where this disease is endemic.
“While the disease is preventable and treatable, it still constitutes a major public health problem in the country and a barrier to social and economic development,’’ he said.
Iwalokun described elephantiasis, also known as Lymphatic Filariasis, as a tropical disease caused by the parasitic filarial worms.
According to him, elephantiasis can cause permanent disfigurement and psycho-social problem, loss of work, productivity, direct and indirect economic loss and functional impairment.
“Elephantiasis is a neglected tropical disease, which occurs when filarial parasites are transmitted to humans through mosquitoes.
“When a mosquito with infective stage larvae bites a person, the parasites are deposited on the person’s skin.
“From where they enter the body and migrate to the lymphatic vessels where they develop into adult worms in the human lymphatic system.
“Elephantiasis may be endemic in swampy and unkempt areas where stagnant dirty water is breeding grounds for mosquitoes that may be carrying the parasitic filarial worms,’’ he told NAN.
“It only affects some populations in Nigeria in areas such as the north-central area, like the middle belt.
“In some communities, as many as five per cent of women can be affected with swollen limbs and men can suffer from swollen genitals.’’
Iwalokun lamented that Nigeria as a country could not account for the prevalence of elephantiasis because people did not report cases at the hospitals for fear of stigmatisation.
He also said that poor enlightenment was responsible for that leading to patients preferring to go to spiritual homes because elephantiasis was being associated with spiritual problem.
He, however, advised that people in the endemic areas could take preventive measures such as regular foot washing with antiseptics and draining of stagnant water in their environment.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that over 120 million people worldwide are currently infected with about 40 million disfigured and incapacitated by the disease.
It advised government of countries to scale up intervention programmes for elephantiasis through public awareness, identification of endemic communities and mass drug administration.
NAN
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