Many people over the age of 40 are suffering from elephantiasis but most of them don´t even know that the disease is called elephantiasis and it is transmitted through mosquitoes. [break]
Instead, 65-year-old Ambika Devi Rimal thinks her swollen legs were a result of complications during her motherhood.
Eighty-year-old Bhim Bahadur Thapa, who suffered from the disease for over 30 years, came to know that it is elephantiasis only after he reached Kathmandu for treatment.
The younger generation is free from the disease, though. Health worker Ram Krishna Phuyal says it is because of awareness among the younger generation that the disease is transmitted through mosquitoes because of which they keep themselves safe from mosquitoes. Phuyal says there are over 100 elephantiasis patients in Kewalpur alone, though no agency has conducted an official survey.
Besides Kewalpur, the disease is also common in Salyantar, Benighat, Goganpani and Jeebanpur but the number of patients in the latter VDCs is very low, according to Ram Narayan Pandit, a resource person for elephantiasis control program of the District Public Health Office.
He said the office launches awareness campaigns and distributes medicines annually to prevent further spread of the disease but those already infected cannot be treated.
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