Leadership (Abuja)
3 April 2008
Delta government has said that it would intensify the fight against the spread of Shistomosiasis, a water-borne disease common in rural areas.
The state government with the support of WHO is targeting 50,000 people in the rural areas for free distribution of Praziquantel, the drug for the treatment of the disease.
Public Health officer in Delta Primary Health Development Agency, Mr Okocha Ndudi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Asaba that government had mapped out strategies to curb the spread of the disease.
He said that health officers had been dispatched to the affected areas for the free distribution of the drugs.
Ndudi said that "as at today, Schistosomiasis is the commonest water-borne disease confronting rural dwellers in the state.
"These people rely mainly on wells, boreholes, streams and river water that are not good sources of safe water. It is more endemic in areas that are adjoining the River Niger.
"The local government areas where the disease has been discovered include Bomadi, Isoko North and Isoko South, Ndokwa East and Oshimili South, as well as Oshimili North.
"Children are more in danger as they frequently go into water to swim, bathe and sometimes stay longer in water," he stated
Ndudi explained that the type of Schistosomiasis common in this area was Hermatobia, a form of Bilharzia, a water-borne disease that had its life cycle inside the water.
The public health expert also said: "The virus survives inside water in tiny water snail where it incubates."
He said the migrating lava could penetrate the skin of persons swimming in the water and would later affect the victim's urinary bladder, rectum and liver.
The symptoms of the disease included urinating blood, a situation that would further aid the spread of the disease, when such urine flowed into a river or stream, he said. Ndudi added said: "In rural communities, it spreads easily, as soon as victims urinate into the community water pool.
"Untreated persons could become anaemic or develop cancer of the urinary bladder or cancer of the rectum or liver. He advised communities living along the River Niger to report cases of suspected symptoms of the disease promptly to the Ministry of Health to enable them collect free drugs.
"The drugs are free. As soon as symptoms are noticed, patients should go for test and access the drug," he said. Ndudi further advised patients to go for medical checkup after the treatment to avoid cases of a re-infection. The effects of the disease are reducing.
"Water-borne diseases are reducing because of intervention from the state government and donor agencies.
"There is high level of pollution in the rural areas, there is the need for more intervention in water supply," he said.
He stated that communities needed to embark on healthy living and also ensure that water projects were maintained.
Ndudi listed ways of reducing the spread of the disease to include good environment, provision of potable water, good toilets and the eradication of water snails.
He also advised that people should be discouraged from defecating in community streams and rivers which also served as sources of drinking water.
"There is the need for health education. People need to treat water before drinking. The easiest way of doing this is by boiling water before drinking," he said.
The health officer said that strategies put in place for the eradication of the disease were working, adding that like guinea worm, Schistosomiasis would soon be eradicated.(NAN)
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
