The kala-azar incident in the district has been contained and there is no need to panic, Minister for Forests K. Raju has said.
Speaking at a prevention drive jointly organised by the District Suchitwa Mission and the Kerala Scrap Merchants’ Association at Villumala tribal colony in the district on Sunday, he urged the residents to process biodegradable waste at source and handover the inorganic garbage to scrap dealers.
“People should come forward and participate in the activities to achieve sanitation goals,” he said.
Kulathupuzha panchayat vice president Sabu Abraham presided.
Suchitwa Mission district coordinator G. Sudhakaran led an awareness session on monsoon-related epidemics and prevention methods.
A team from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) visited the colony near Kulathupuzha on Saturday to assess the situation. They visited households to check the presence of sandflies that spread the disease. The team will also test the blood of domestic animals and rats.
Mousetraps were distributed among the residents for this purpose.
Endemic
Since the Villumla colony hardly has any guest labourer population, the incident is considered endemic as per primary assumptions. The health officials have been instructed by the team to screen all guest labourers in the district.
Insecticides will be sprayed in the area two times a year for three years to completely eradicate the disease-causing parasite.
Inspections were carried out by three NCDC teams led by its joint director T.G. Thomas. The team will be camping in Kollam for one week.