Elephantiasis is gradually spreading in northern part of Nigeria of the country with an alarm raised by a competent source.
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The Gombe State Government says it has recorded cases of Lymphatic Filariasis, popularly known as elephantiasis, at Galdamaru community in Kaltungo Local Government Area.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Kennedy Ishaya, made this known to the News Agency of Nigeria in Gombe on Tuesday.
He described elephantiasis as a parasitic infection that causes extreme swelling in the arms and legs due to infestation by Filarial worm.
Ishaya said that until now, elephantiasis, which is one of the neglected tropical diseases, was last reported a decade ago in the state.
According to him, the ministry is deploying a team of experts as soon as fund is made available to conduct a skin snoop to find out the actual cause of the problem, and to provide a lasting solution.
He said Galdamaru is in Gombe State, but it shares boundaries with Taraba State and the area is a difficult terrain that is inaccessible from Gombe.
“The community is in Gombe State, but because of lack of access route, the only good road to the area is through Karim Lamido in Taraba State,” he said.
NAN recalls that more than 15,000 residents of Galdamaru community were affected by Schistosomiasis Bilharzia in 2011.
(NAN)