Poor care for elephantiasis

AMBON, Maluku: Residents here said they were disappointed by the lack of effort to prevent and cure elephantiasis in the region.

"We are disappointed... that until now the health office here has not acted on the results of blood tests taken from 213 residents of Batu Gajah subdistrict in August," a resident, H. Abrahams, said on Monday.

The Maluku health agency has reportedly handled similar cases in 38 villages in Maluku, 22 of them in Central Maluku.

She was quoted by Antara as saying the blood tests were initiated by the people of Batu Gajah themselves. Eleven were subsequently diagnosed as suffering from the elephantiasis virus.

In 1997, a number of residents were similarly diagnosed and have yet to recover. Elephantiasis is a condition under which a limb or the scrotum is enlarged as the result of an obstruction of the lymphastics by filarial worms.