Current status of chronic filariasis in Jiangsu Province / 中国血吸虫病防治杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To understand the current status of chronic filariasis patients in Jiangsu Province so as to provide basic data for following-up care for them. Methods The patients were followed up one by one according to history archives between June and July, 2018, and the clue investigation was also conducted. The base data of the patients was collected through a face-to-face questionnaire survey and analyzed. Results There were still 3 160 chronic filariasis patients in Jiangsu Province. Among them, the male accounted for 40.0%, and 91.8% of the patients were older adults aged 60 years or above. From the aspect of regional distribution, Suqian (24.2%), Huai’an (19.5%), Suzhou (17.3%), Xuzhou (11.2%), and Yancheng (9.8%) were the five top high prefectures. The patients with simple lymphatic inflammation or lymphadenitis, simple lymphedema or elephantiasis, simple chyluria, simple hydrocele of tunica vaginalis, and two symptoms or more accounted for 2.7%, 37.1%, 11.2%, 0.9%, and 48.1%, respectively. For the patients with lymphedema or elephantiasis, 97.8% of edema was seen in the lower limbs, and more than 90% of the edema stages were I-III. The number of current caring sites was 220, covering 2 091 patients. The average number of times of caring activities in this year was 3.2. The average cumulative time of caring activities among all the sites was 11.3 years. Conclusions The number of chronic filariasis patients has been dramatically decreased, most of the patients are old and have long disease durations. The caring sites have not covered all the patients. In order to release the symptoms and improve the life quality of the patients, all the patients should be taken care of in Jiangsu Province.