PHO sounds alarm vs. filariasis
Health and local officials here have alerted residents against the possible spread of the mosquito-borne disease filariasis.
Provincial health officer Dr. Patricia Grace Trabado said they have advised residents to take precautionary measures against the disease by cleaning possible breeding grounds of mosquitoes and minimizing exposure to mosquito bites.
The alert was raised after a survey for possible symptoms of the disease and subsequent blood samplings showed possible infection in villages in Lambunao town in Iloilo.
Filariasis is caused by microfilaria worms transmitted by mosquitoes, usually at night. The worms attack a person's lymphatic nodes causing hardening and enlargement of tissues and organs.
The worm-carrying mosquitoes can usually be found in leaves and branches of plants including banana trees and abaca.
There is no visible symptoms of infection immediately after it is acquired and can only be detected through blood smearing. It takes from a year to six years before the visible symptoms of the disease to develop, said Trabado.
Persons afflicted with the disease first experience repeated fever, chills headache. In the advanced stage, infected persons suffer enlargement of the extremities including swelling of the testicles for males and breasts for females. Infected persons are treated with dosages of macrofilariacide and macrofilariacide.
Trabado said they discovered the first case of filariasis late last year after blood tests conducted on a patient admitted at the Lambunao District Hospital turned positive.
This prompted the PHO, Department of Health and the municipal rural health unit to conduct the random survey for symptoms and blood smearing in eight barangays in Lambunao.
Trabado said they took blood samples from more than 500 residents or from 50 to 100 per barangay last week.
She said partial results of the samples were positive for filariasis but they are still waiting for confirmation from the DOH central office where the samples were taken.
The PHO and DOH are planning to conduct surveys and tests in neighboring towns of Lambunao to determine the presence of infection.