WHO to determine Guyana’s filaria status after testing concludes – Health Minister

…testing continues in New Year

Even as Guyana completed both rounds of the mass drug administration to achieve a filaria-free status, the process of testing to verify if the parasite still remains will continue into 2022.
This was disclosed by Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony who outlined that samples have been taken in communities where the pills were distributed. Another series of testing is planned for the new year. Based on the results of these findings, the World Health Organisation will definitively determine if it should certify the country as filaria-free.

“Filaria elimination is a process. We are required to do the mass drug administration and we have completed those two cycles in the endemic areas for filaria. Having completed that, not to ensure that we don’t have filaria, we now have to go back to those communities, take samples of those people and do certain tests to see whether or not the parasite still remains in the population.”
He added, “We’re engaged and doing those testing. We have teams going out to the region where we had done mass drug administration and once that is completed and the results are known, based on those results, the WHO will use that to make a decision whether or not they can declare us to be filaria free.”
Just recently, the Health Ministry said it initiated a survey as part of the Lymphatic Filariasis National Elimination Programme, to evaluate transmission and other factors following the mass administration campaign.
According to the Ministry, the survey is in collaboration with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).
Throughout the country, consecutive rounds of Ivermectin, Diethylcarbamazine and Albendazole (IDA) was used in the triple-drug combination. It is recommended by the World Health Organisation to roll out a mass administration of medicines in countries seeking to eliminate filariasis completely. Guyana would have completed the administration of the first round of pills and this year, the last round was administered to citizens.
For the campaign, training was done for 1400 pill distributors, 170 field officers, 20 regional coordinators, and eight national supervisors spanning 138 health facilities across the country. For those persons who have already contracted filaria, the Ministry was working on treatment to prevent them from developing a disability.
Before the end of the exercise, over 360,000 persons had taken the pills across the country. For Guyana to achieve a filaria elimination certificate, the aim was to achieve 70 per cent coverage.
The disease is caused by three species of thread-like nematode worms, known as filariae – Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi and Brugia timori. Male worms range from three to four centimetres in length, and female worms, eight to 10 centimetres.
The worms target the lymphatic system, which is an essential component of the body’s immune system as they are essentially a network of nodes and vessels that maintain the delicate fluid balance between blood and body tissues. But when someone is infected, the male and female worms form “nests” together in this vital system.
The World Health Organisation data shows that some 900 million people in 49 different countries are at risk of contracting filaria. In Guyana, 90 per cent of the population was also at risk for contracting the disease. While diethylcarbamazine (DEC)-medicated salt was the first move used by Government to eliminate filariasis, the pills were recommended for its advantage and later implemented by the Ministry.