By IJEOMA UKAZU
Lymphatic Filariasis is one of the Neglected Tropical Diseases, NTDs ravaging most communities in Nigeria claiming mostly the lymphs of an individual.
The condition which is also known as Elephantiasis is an infectious disease caused by tiny worms spread by mosquitoes.
At an early stage, most infected persons do not see the need to seek medical attention as such a condition is usually linked to a spiritual attack just like in the case of Lucy.
In an interview, Lucy, 45, mother of nine from Ogu–Bolo Local Government Area of Rivers State, said she have been living with the disease for 9 years without treatment but as it deteriorated, she resorted to prayers.
According to her, “I cry whenever the site becomes reddish as if blood was coming out of the place. We almost mistook it for a condition usually inflicted on someone through fetish means.
“I did not take any drugs. I went to church and my Pastor prayed for me and my leg came down. This happened three times after the Pastor poured holy water on the leg. After the third time it went down, it stopped going down even after applying holy water but it got worse.”
Lucy, who is a school cleaner, couldn’t continue her job due to the pain emanating from her legs. She faced a lot of stigmatization which hindered her from seeking medical attention.
Explaining further she said, “At first, I thought the swollen legs were because of my pregnancy – a condition called oedema. As it comes each time I was pregnant. Not knowing it was a sign of elephantiasis.”
Experts say during pregnancy, the extra fluid in the body and the pressure from the growing uterus can cause swelling (or “edema”) in the ankles and feet. The swelling tends to get worse as a woman’s due date nears, particularly near the end of the day and during hotter weather.
Lucy said, ” I never believed that the swelling each time I am pregnant will result in a more serious condition. Any time I am pregnant my leg swells up and the moment I deliver it will go down.
” It became worse in 2009 when I gave birth to another baby girl precisely on 1st September, 2009. A month after my delivery, I started feeling serious pain on the leg and my muscles pulling me.
” My fear became worse but I thanked God that I was not pregnant then because I would not have been able to cope with even bathing myself. Yet, I didn’t visit the hospital for a proper diagnosis,” she said.
Lucy revealed that she approached a group of medical personnel who were on a health outreach in her community asking for drugs to help her condition. ” I took the drugs and after I urinate, the leg came down.
“It resurfaced and since I did not know the drugs I was given, I visited the chemists to buy drugs that can make me urinate and I also backed it up with prayer.”
She was picked up by members of the Rivers State, Neglected Tropical Diseases, NTDs Eradication Programme. Experts say, Lucy is one out of 122 million Nigerians, that is two out of three are at risk of contacting one or more NTDs.
Speaking during an interview, the NTDs Coordinator in Rivers State, Mr. Mordecai Israel said 13 Local Government Areas, LGAs, in the state are endemic for Elephantiasis with more than 100 full blown cases in each LGA.
He said, “Early detection differs from individuals with lymphatic Filariasis. The onus rests with the individual to self diagnose early pain on the leg and then visit a health facility.
“A sample will be taken and a microscopic examination carried out. When the micro filaria, then it can be confirmed that it is lymphatic filariasis. Though there are other diseases that may have symptoms like this but are not.
” The female anopheles and culex mosquito are major carriers of Elephantiasis. They do that to get a blood meal to enable them to fertilize their eggs.”
Speaking on the high rate of the disease in the state, the State NTDs Coordinator said, ” Whatever favours the breeding of mosquitoes and water bodies favours the transmission of these diseases. It is not necessarily riverine areas alone but our surroundings where there are water bodies – in the gutters, drainages that are stagnant, mosquitoes can breed in those places.
” Mosquitoes are not the culprit. If there are filaria germs in an individual, mosquitoes in the course of feeding take this filaria from one person to another,” he explained.
Israel said Lucy was sighted at one of the States community health outreaches and like her, many infected persons are adamant to having a free treatment provided to them.
He urged Nigerians to always keep their surroundings clean at all time adding that out of 20 listed NTDs, Nigeria is home to 15 which includes: Trachoma, (Granular Conjunctivitis), Onchocerciasis, (River blindness) Lymphatic Filariasis, (Elephantiasis), Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis, Schistosomiasis, (parasitic worms), Leprosy, Snakebites Envenoming, Yaws, Rabies, Buruli Ulcer, Leishmaniasis, Human African Trypanosomiasis, HAT, among others.
While delivering his presentation during a two-day media dialogue in Port Harcourt, River State, the National Coordinator, Neglected Tropical Diseases Elimination Programme, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Nse Akpan said that every house should work on eliminating any disease linked to Water Sanitation And Hygiene, WASH as all States in Nigeria are endemic for one or more of these NTDs, adding that, only four LGAs out of the 774 LGAs are not endemic for any of the NTDs.
Reeling out the statistics, he said, ‘ about 119.8 million people are at risk of Lymphatic Filariasis, 51.4 million people for Onchocerciasis, 28.8 million school-age children and 20.5 million pre-school-age children for Soil-Transmitted Hermits, 26.8 million people for Trachoma and 23.8 million school-age children for Schistosomiasis.”
Akpan further said that the statistics from Neglected Tropical Diseases Elimination Programme say Nigeria has an estimated at-risk population of 138 million for elephantiasis while 50 million at risk of Onchocerciasis.
For Nigeria to tackle these diseases, experts advise there is need to scale up interventions to cover all eligible endemic LGAs and all at-risk populations following elimination mapping by the Federal government as well as advocacy targeting policy makers to give its full support.
They say, there is also a need for community sanitation advocacy as well as improved support and release of funds for NTDs in the country.