Southern Leyte (March 4) --- The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday announced that Southern Leyte is now free of mosquito-borne filariasis disease after seven years of mass drug administration.

"After seven years of mass drug administration and support from our partners like the World Health Organization (WHO), GlaxoSmithKline, the Department of Education and LGUs especially the barangay health workers, we are celebrating the milestone to show the world that filariasis can be beaten," DoH Secretary Francisco T. Duque III said in a statement yesterday.

Southern Leyte is the first province in the Philippines to be declared as filariasis-free after it satisfied the criteria set by the DoH. These include that the prevalence rate of the disease should be less than one percent in identified and selected areas, there should be no positive among children aged two to four years old who were tested, and that there should be no positive among the 3,000 new school entrants.

According to the DoH, Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) or Elephantiasis is a parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes affecting the world's poorest countries. In the Philippines, filariasis is endemic in 40 provinces. It is present in Marinduque, Mindoro Oriental, Mindoro Occidental, Palawan, and Romblon in MIMAROPA region; Albay, Camarines Norte, Zamboanga Peninsula, Bukidnon, Misamis Occidental, and Misamis Oriental in Northern Mindanao.

About 76 percent of cases can be found in 4th to 6th class municipalities. According to experts, the parasites lodge into the lymphatic system, an essential component of the body's immune defense system and disrupt the lymphatic flow of the blood thereby rendering the person prone to infections and acute attacks. It also causes disfiguration of limbs and swelling of body parts such as the genitals. Symptoms of the disease include fever, cough, chills, wheezing, and pain and swelling in the arms, breast, scrotum, penis, vulva, and legs.

If left untreated, more than 23 million Filipinos are at risk of getting infected.

According to Duque, All 18 rural health units (RHU's) and two city health units simultaneously implemented the mass drug administration from 2001 until 2007.

Duque said the challenge lies in sustaining the standing of Southern Leyte as filariasis-free.

The health chief disclosed that the elimination of filariasis in Southern Leyte was in response to the 1997 World Health Assembly which urged member states, including the Philippines, to strengthen activities toward eliminating lymphatic filariasis (LF) as a public health problem and to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's call to establish a National Program for Eliminating Filariasis.