More elephantiasis cases found<\/p>\n
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang<\/p>\n
With her hugely swollen left leg, moving around the house is
\npainful for Toti, 23, a housewife living in Kunciran Induk in
\nPinang, Tangerang city.<\/p>\n
Contracting elephantiasis eight years ago, Toti has taken all
\nthe medical treatment she can afford to try to bring the
\ndisfiguring swelling in her limb down.<\/p>\n
\"I took various kinds of colorful pills given by the doctors
\nat the public health center ... I even went to Sitanala Leprosy
\nHospital and consumed all the medicines they gave me. They just
\ndidn't work, so I quit the medicine and have left it up to God,\"
\nshe told The Jakarta Post on Monday.<\/p>\n
Toti recalled the first days after she contracted the
\ndebilitating disease, caused by tiny worm infestations spread by
\nthe bite of mosquitoes.<\/p>\n
\"I felt cold, but I sweated a lot ... (the fever) started at
\nnight when it was raining,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The following days, red marks covered her leg. The dots got
\nbigger as the leg began to swell. Toti began to wear pants to
\nhide her leg.<\/p>\n
Toti is not the only one in the area who has to live with a
\npermanent disfigurement. Five other people in the subdistrict,
\nwhich is located some three kilometers south of the Soekarno-
\nHatta International Airport, also suffer from elephantiasis.<\/p>\n
An integrated health post (Posyandu) worker, Imas, first found
\nToti, Simpen, 60, Masih, 30, Onih, 40, Nasih, 40, and Minah, 32,
\nall of whom, like Toti, were living at home, having quit taking
\nmedication that didn't work.<\/p>\n
Tangerang health agency head Nuriman Mahjudin said that 11
\nother people with elephantiasis had been found this year in the
\nKreo, Cileduk, Sewan, Neglasari, Gombor and Periuk subdistricts
\nbordering Tangerang city and regency.<\/p>\n
While the parasites could be killed, the deformation they
\ncreated was generally permanent, he said. Plastic surgery was the
\nonly way to treat the swollen feet, a procedure that was limited
\nin its effectiveness and which most of the sufferers could not
\nafford.<\/p>\n
Separately, head of contagious disease eradication at the
\nagency, Lisa Puspa Dewi, said that the agency had recently
\nexamined the blood samples of several people with elephantiasis,
\nmostly in their legs.<\/p>\n
The thread-like, parasitic filarial worms Wuchereria bancrofti
\nand Brugia malayi that cause lymphatic filariasis or
\nelephantiasis are transmitted by infected mosquitoes that bite
\nhumans.<\/p>\n
According to a World Health Organization (WHO) fact sheet in
\nNovember 2000, that year? more than 120 million people worldwide
\nwere affected by elephantiasis, 40 million who were permanently
\ndebilitated. The report said the prevalence of the infections
\nwere continuing to increase due to the rapid and unplanned growth
\nof cities, with building areas creating breeding sites for the
\nmosquitoes that transmit the disease.<\/p>\n
Lisa said the regional health agency had now formed a medical
\nteam to hold door-to-door checks to detect sufferers early on and
\neducate the public on how to avoid the disease.<\/p>\n
\"We will also hold a big treatment clinic for the sufferers
\nfrom August to September ... We have started to collect data
\nabout residents who have contracted the disease, going from
\nsubdistrict to subdistrict here.\"<\/p>\n
She said several of the elephantiasis sufferers from Cileduk,
\nNeglasari and Periuk had earlier been treated at Tangerang
\nHospital.<\/p>\n
\"We have killed the parasite, but returning their legs to
\ntheir normal size is difficult because cosmetic surgery can only
\nmend 30 percent of an elephantiasis leg.\"<\/p>",
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