Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Dec 13: The state health and family welfare department has decided to distribute prophylactic medicines for filariasis December 19 in the state through their volunteers to check the spread of the disease.
The department will also give these preventive medicines to people to help them combat the disease that is spread by mosquitoes on subsequent days.
It also busted a few myths about the drugs. “There are a few misconceptions about the drug used as a preventive measure to check infection in cases of exposure to the causative organism. The drug is safe and causes no reported side effects. People need to consume it once a year to keep the disease at bay,” said Chittaranjan Nayak, director, Medical Health Services.
Nayak, however, warned that the drug should not be consumed by children less than two years old, pregnant women, the elderly and those who are ailing.
The director also exhorted people to adopt measures such as use of mosquito nets and maintain hygiene to prevent the spread of the disease.
The state has been given the target of achieving zero cases of filariasis by the end of 2017, according to the recommendations of the central government under the National Filaria Control Programme, said officials of the department. The modified programme with the use of newer medicines started in Orissa in 2004.