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COIMBATORE: Coimbatore district has succeeded in eliminating leprosy as a public health problem over the past five years. Impressed by its performance in containing the chronic infectious disease, the Tamil Nadu health department is all set to accord the district the leprosy elimination status. Coimbatore is the first district in the state to be selected for this feat.
According to a source with the district leprosy department, the active leprosy cases have not only dropped to 78 last year from 179 in 2016, but the infected people have also not reported any deformities during the period.
“This is one of the indicators that the district is entering into leprosy elimination status.”
The health department on Wednesday discussed the district’s efforts in eliminating leprosy during an online state-level review meeting that was chaired by Dr T S Selvavinayagam, director of public health, and Dr S Amutha, additional director (leprosy).
Speaking to TOI, Dr P Sivakumari, deputy director, medical services (leprosy), said the prevalence of leprosy was just 0.1% in 10,000 population in the district as of 2021, when the active cases increased to 78 from 49 in 2020.
“Our focus is on the early detection of the infection and offering follow-up treatment. This helped the patients a lot and the district hasn’t reported any deformities in leprosy patients in the past seven years. Whereas, patients in other districts have recorded deformities. Such cases were few and far between though.”
Explaining the treatment procedure, she said the health staff would first examine the patients’ patchy lesions. “After that, the health staff will initiate a multi-drug therapy that would last six months or one year, depending on the severity of the bacterial infection.”
She said dapsone, rifampicin and clofazimine were the drug combinations administered on children and adults who were suffering from leprosy caused by mycobacterium leprae bacteria.
Sivakumari said they had presented data on the leprosy cases in the district for the past five years at the recent state-level review meeting. “We will soon submit data for the past 10 years before the state and Union government officials for further verification. If found eligible for the leprosy elimination status after the verification, we may receive a reward of Rs 3 lakh and a gold medal from the Union government.”
Selvavinayagam said there was a lot of documentation to be done. “The next step is a long-term process. Further updates will be made known after completing the same.”
According to a source with the district leprosy department, the active leprosy cases have not only dropped to 78 last year from 179 in 2016, but the infected people have also not reported any deformities during the period.
“This is one of the indicators that the district is entering into leprosy elimination status.”
The health department on Wednesday discussed the district’s efforts in eliminating leprosy during an online state-level review meeting that was chaired by Dr T S Selvavinayagam, director of public health, and Dr S Amutha, additional director (leprosy).
Speaking to TOI, Dr P Sivakumari, deputy director, medical services (leprosy), said the prevalence of leprosy was just 0.1% in 10,000 population in the district as of 2021, when the active cases increased to 78 from 49 in 2020.
“Our focus is on the early detection of the infection and offering follow-up treatment. This helped the patients a lot and the district hasn’t reported any deformities in leprosy patients in the past seven years. Whereas, patients in other districts have recorded deformities. Such cases were few and far between though.”
Explaining the treatment procedure, she said the health staff would first examine the patients’ patchy lesions. “After that, the health staff will initiate a multi-drug therapy that would last six months or one year, depending on the severity of the bacterial infection.”
She said dapsone, rifampicin and clofazimine were the drug combinations administered on children and adults who were suffering from leprosy caused by mycobacterium leprae bacteria.
Sivakumari said they had presented data on the leprosy cases in the district for the past five years at the recent state-level review meeting. “We will soon submit data for the past 10 years before the state and Union government officials for further verification. If found eligible for the leprosy elimination status after the verification, we may receive a reward of Rs 3 lakh and a gold medal from the Union government.”
Selvavinayagam said there was a lot of documentation to be done. “The next step is a long-term process. Further updates will be made known after completing the same.”
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