Kwale County is conducting a mass drug administration exercise in a bid to prevent lymphatic filariasis, lymphoedema and hydrocell (swelling of limbs and scrotum) diseases common in the coastal region caused by the female mosquito.
According to the health professionals, these diseases affect the breasts, limbs, feet and the genitals. The diseases only affect human beings.
The mosquito that spreads lymphoedema and hydrocell is the anopheles (female).
Medical officers at Msambweni Referral Hospital have said 60 patients have been operated on in the county since August, (56 at Msambweni, 24 at Kwale and 3 at Kinango hospitals).
Another 90 patients from Lungalunga Sub-county are waiting for the operations after they were found to have been infected.
According to Vectorbone Disease Control Unit incharge of Msambweni Referral Hospital, Jackson Muinde Mwandi, the Kwale County Government had budgeted for more than 1,300 patients to be operated on.
However, many patients suffering from the condition are fear-gripped and fail to disclose it to medical personnel.
“There is general fear in the Kwale and coast communities that when they come for operation, they will not survive. But we want to assure them that it’s a simple and safe operation that lasts for a short time,’’ said Mwandi at a press brief on Saturday.
Witchcraft and inheritance are also associated with the disease which Mwandi dismissed as false.
"Other people believe elephantiasis is caused by drinking madafu which is a lie," said the laboratory technician.
The laboratory technician said that a vigorous malaria campaign in 2008 had greatly reduced cases of elephantiasis since many people started sleeping under mosquito nets.
“In Kwale County, cases of elephantiasis have reduced from 10 per cent in 2008 to only 4 per cent today due to the malaria campaign,” he said on Saturday.
More people affected by the lymphoedema and hydrocell are now coming forward to get treatment.
"The main aim of this mass drug administration is to prevent disability which is brought about by long exposure to the diseases," noted Mwandi who is also the head of the County Neglected Tropical Diseases unit (NTD).
Mr Mwandi further noted that there is bad misconception over this drug which must be abolished through community sensitisation that the drug is a preventive means and not a way to make them impotency.
"The drug is safe and the World Health Organisation (WHO) explained that the swelling is treatable."
"I urge all Kwale County residents to embrace this drug administration exercise positively and take the drugs and also come forward to be operated on, and through this process we will have a lymphatic filariusis free County," said Mwandi.
Mombasa County administration also rolled out the campaign targeting both adults and children in all the six sub-counties, which ended last week.