First Person: Life with lymphatic filariasis — associated disabilities

E., now 70 years, was a strapping young man in an island in the Maldives, looking forward to a full life of farming and fishing, when, at the age of 20, he developed fever. Initially, he didn’t take it seriously — after all, everyone gets fever, and then it gets better, and he was fit and healthy. Little did he know that his life was about to change forever. For, after the fever, his feet began to swell. His family, relatively well-to-do, took him to Kerala, India, for treatment. “I was treated with tablets for six months,” he recalls. His fever subsided, but the swelling on the feet — the most visible sign of lymphatic filariasis — has remained with him all his life. Now seventy, he has no regrets, he has a large, 10-member family, but wonders what life would have been like without his swollen feet.

For F., a 63 year old widow, in a family of four, it was more difficult, as both her legs are swollen, making it difficult for her to move easily. She sought treatment when she initially developed fever ten years ago, and was admitted to a health facility and began DEC treatment. The treatment destroyed the worms that caused the disease, but her disfigurement remains. “Initially it was difficult, but I’m glad that now people are aware of lymphatic filariasis, so they no longer discriminate against people like me,” she said.

H., 65, an active fiercely independent, spirited woman, did not realize, twenty years ago, that the swelling on her legs indicated lymphatic filariasis. But she was concerned, and sought treatment, in the island health centre in the capital Male, as well as with private doctors. She underwent treatment for three months. Although her disability due to lymphatic filariasis is permanent, she tries not the let it interfere with her life, and insists on doing all her chores herself. The local health centre also helps her in taking care and washing and keeping her feet clean. “I am happy, people around me are good,” she says.

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