A study on utilization and quality of coverage of antenatal care services at the subcentre level.

A community based cross-sectional study was done by interviewing a sample of 360 women of Anchuri Block in the district of Bankura, West Bengal to know the determinants of utilization and coverage quality of antenatal care services of subcentres using an appropriate scoring system for analysis. The study revealed underutilization of subcentres by the women and also sub-optimal performance of subcentres with regard to coverage quality of ANC services The main reason for under utilization of subcentres was found to be better service provision and easy accessibility of B.S.Medical College Hospital. Multiparous mothers were seen to be at a disadvantage both in terms of utilization of the source of choice as well as in terms of coverage of ANC services by subcentre ANMs.

A study of relapse after MDT in a district in West Bengal, India.

A study was undertaken to estimate the magnitude of the problem of relapse and to identify factors responsible for relapse in leprosy units that were delivering MDT in Purulia District of West Bengal. From records patients were classified as "Relapse" or "Not relapse". "Not relapse" patients were selected by simple random sampling from the Surveillance Register and were matched according to age, sex, and the leprosy control unit. 128 cases ("Relapse") and 128 controls ("Not relapse") were interviewed in the clinic using a pre-tested questionnaire. Details of methods to identify and confirm relapse were circulated to all reporting units for ensuring uniformity and reliability. NGOs covered 42% of the population, while the State Government covered the remaining. The patients had been followed up after completion of treatment for a period of two years in PB leprosy and for five years in MB leprosy. The study revealed that the relapse rate was 1.71/1000 person-years for original PB cases and 0.76/1000 person-years for original MB cases. The study also showed that history of contact with an active leprosy patient and irregular treatment led more PB cases to relapse than control cases. All patients with an initial BI of 3+ relapsed with a BI of 1+ or 2+.

Mass DEC campaign for filariasis in a hyper endemic district of West Bengal.

As a part of the on-going National Filaria Control Programme, National Filaria Day was observed in Purulia district of West Bengal on 26th Nov 2000 with an extensively organized mass DEC consumption campaign preceded by IEC activities and followed by mopping up operations. In all 81.07% of the targeted population was covered, females (84.3%) being more available than males (78.3%). Percentage of coverage declines with increase in age. Municipalities and notified areas had less coverage as well as supervised consumption than in other areas. Consumption was highest in Balarampur block (88.6%). Supervised consumption among surveyed population was highest in Bandwan (56.0%). Overall patient compliance was very good, with side effects of vomiting, dizziness, headache and fever being 2.12% only among surveyed population. Disease prevalence among population covered showed 0.1% hand swelling, 0.6 to 0.8% leg swelling, while 1.1% of males had hydrocele.

Role of paucibacillary leprosy in the transmission of disease.

The objective of this study was to establish that paucibacillary leprosy also carried increased risk of infection to the community. All members of 100 families with an index paucibacillary case were clinically, bacteriologically and immunologically examined. The "comparison" group was sampled from suspect register. Fifty-six cases occurred among 944 contacts of index paucibacillary cases; of these, four were multibacillary and 52 were paucibacillary. In the "comparison" group, two contacts out of 760 developed paucibacillary leprosy. This difference, between the two groups, was statistically significant. All the 56 cases in the index case families were under 20 years of age; and 50 of them were aged under 15 years. Male/female ratio was 2.1:1. Of the 56 cases, 28 shared the same bed with the index patient, 20 shared the same room and eight lived in the same house. Lepromin positivity rate was higher in "comparison" families (92.2%) than in index case families (74.6%), the difference being statistically significant (x = 6.09, P < 0.001). Contacts of index case families, therefore, were immunologically at higher risk than contacts of "comparison" families.