District health authorities in Kottayam have confirmed leprosy in one more person, taking the total number of cases to be reported from the district to two.
According to officials, a 30-year-old person from Athirampuzha has been detected with the disease after a detailed medical examination at the Government Medical College here. He was referred to the hospital after a preliminary examination two days ago.
Meanwhile, the authorities have extended the house visit programme as part of the Leprosy Case Detection Campaign (LCDC) till May 14 in view of the district-level pre-monsoon clean-up programme on May 11 and 12.
So far, the authorities have examined 13.39 lakh persons across 3.78 lakh families across the district and referred 3,005 persons for a detailed medical check-up so far.
Meanwhile, the authorities are also planning to hold skin clinic camps for persons exhibiting symptoms of the disease on May 13.
According to District Medical Officer Jacob Thomas while the treatment might take six months to one year, the intake of the first dose of medicine would help stop the disease from spreading to others.
5,000 volunteers
As many as 5,000 volunteers have been deployed in the district to complete the house visits as part of the programme, led by doctors in primary and community health centres and overseen by health inspectors and public health nurses, he said.