Health authorities alert govt. over positive cases

The Bihar government has been alerted about the incidence of elephantiasis based on the parasitic disease diagnosed among some workers from that State who are employed here.

Authorities have also written to the State government to report about the incidence to the health authorities at the Centre, who can issue guidelines in this connection to the States where people had been diagnosed with the disease.

Although some States are said to be endemic to the disease, the authorities here thought it fit to alert the governments in the wake of migrant workers testing positive for the disease, which had been identified for total eradication by 2020 during the blood smear tests conducted at work sites and temporary settlements here.

Mandatory

“Sometimes, it becomes difficult to conduct screening of the migrant populations since the blood tests are supposed to be done only in the night as the parasite will be active in the infected persons’ bloodstream at that time. The health workers visit the camps and conduct blood smear tests on-the-spot using the mobile facility. The workers sometimes resist but the tests are mandatory and we ask them to cooperate. We are empowered to issue notices to the projects where these workers are employed if they resist our interventions,” said Chidambar, District Vector Borne Diseases Control Officer, Mysuru.

The migrant workers are employed in a lot of industries and construction sites here. Many of them stay close to their workplaces in temporary settlements as they keep migrating in search of work.