Mass Drug Administration (MDA) Campaign : Aimed At Ending Filariasis Disease
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched a nationwide Mass Drug Administration (MDA) campaign aimed at ending filariasis disease.
- India aims to eliminate filariasis by 2027, three years ahead of the global target.
- High-burdened areas are Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
- Filariasis is a parasitic infection caused by microscopic, thread-like worms known as filariae.
- It is spread by the bite of infected mosquitoes, and it affects millions of people in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide.
- Lymphatic filariasis is caused by infection with parasites classified as nematodes (roundworms) of the family Filariodidea.
- There are 3 types of these thread-like filarial worms:
- Wuchereria bancrofti, which is responsible for 90% of the cases,
- Brugia malayi, which causes most of the remainder of the cases,
- Brugia timori, which also causes the disease.
- Lymphatic filariasis infection involves asymptomatic, acute, and chronic conditions.
- In chronic conditions, it leads to lymphoedema (tissue swelling) or elephantiasis (skin/tissue thickening) of limbs and hydrocele (scrotal swelling).
