142 new leprosy cases detected in Nizamabad dist.

July 23, 2016 12:00 am | Updated 05:56 am IST - HYDERABAD:

Scores of fresh leprosy cases found in a few mandals of Nizamabad district over the last six months are giving officials the jitters, and pitching a case for fresh studies and surveillance for leprosy in all the mandals of the State.

An isolated study conducted in four mandals of the district by the district health officials, upon chance discovery of a couple of fresh cases six months ago, revealed 142 persons suffering from the disease in its early stages. They have been immediately put under treatment in the nearest primary health centre, and 10 patients have been declared disease-arrested so far.

This is the first such significant instance in the district where a large number of leprosy cases were found concentrated in a few mandals, though isolated patients are some times discovered in other mandals too, officials said.

“It all began when I found a college student suffering from leprosy in Pochampad, and another patient in Nizam Sagar. We immediately constituted teams to search for fresh cases, and conducted a study in four mandals, Pitlam, Jukkal, Bichkunda and Nizam Sagar, where more fresh cases were found,” informed District Medical and Health Officer J.Venkati.

As part of the study, auto-rickshaws with mike sets were used to describe the symptoms and urge people with symptoms to attend the screening camp. Whoever were diagnosed as leprosy-positive, were referred to the nearest primary health centre for treatment. Ten patients with paucibacillary (PB) infection have been cured after six months of treatment, while those infected with multibacillary (MB) leprosy continue to be under the treatment, Dr. Venkati said.

No DPMOs

The mandals screened were chosen as they did not have deputy paramedical officers (DPMO) whose responsibility it was to identify leprosy cases in the cluster under their purview.

Each DPMO monitors the area under one cluster with three to four health centres under them, and is assisted by the assistant paramedical officers (APMO) working under him. As of now, for a total of 42 posts, only six APMOs are present in the district, four in Kamareddy and two in Nizamabad mandals, sources informed. DPMOs number only seven, for the 17 posts for the district, which makes the screening in all mandals a Herculean task.

The vertical programme for leprosy eradication under the National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP) was merged under general health a decade ago, after leprosy prevalence was successfully contained to less than one per 10,000 of population.

India declared elimination of leprosy as a public health problem in December 2005. Even with the freshly added cases, the prevalence of leprosy in Nizamabad district does not exceed 0.43 per 10,000, assure the officials. However, the concentration of cases in a few mandals is a cause for concern.

The mandals screened shared borders with the neighbouring state of Maharashtra, housing predominantly migrant population, and hence might have had more incidence of leprosy owing to lack of nutrition, an APMO says, under the condition of anonymity.

First such instance where a large number of cases were found concentrated in a few mandals

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