Lymphatic Filariasis, a worm disease

[Guest guest]

" finding1cure " <finding1cure

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 00:25:10 -0000

[finding1cure] Lymphatic Filariasis, a worm disease

 

 

 

(It appears that someone at is breaking the links and disabling

them, so do not know if they will come through entact.)

 

http://www.spotlightradio.net/script.php?id=1537

 

 

 

 

Voice 1

Thank you for joining us today for Spotlight. I'm Rebekah Schipper

 

Voice 2

And I'm Joshua Leo. Spotlight uses a special English method of

broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where

in the world they live.

 

Voice 1

Antoinette St. Fab sells rice and oil in a market in Haiti. She is

thirty [30] years old. She works very hard in the busy market. But

Antoinette has a problem. Her legs are swollen. Fluid fills them.

They are very large. Her left leg is almost thirty [30] centimetres

thick. She has trouble finding shoes to fit her feet. And she has to

cut her clothing to fit over her legs. This helps her to walk more

easily. Antoinette has Lymphatic Filariasis. Antoinette says:

 

Voice 3

" In the past, I used to carry (food) like spaghetti and canned milk

on my head and walk around selling them. But I can not do that any

more. "

 

Voice 2

Antoinette used to experience fevers and infections in her legs. She

has prevented this by washing her legs often She also puts medicine

on them. But her legs often still hurt. And they continue to make her

life difficult. When Antoinette's husband learned that her legs would

not become smaller, he left her. She worries that her new boyfriend

will also leave her. The other women at the market insult her.

 

Voice 3

" I stepped on someone's foot by accident, and she said. `Hey yam leg,

do not put your fat foot on me.' I told her: `Oh, be quiet. God gave

me this leg. Do you think that if I went to the store to buy a leg,

this is the one I would choose?' "

 

Voice 1

Antoinette asked doctors to cut off her leg. But the doctors would

not do it. They said that having a large leg is better than having no

leg. They said that if they cut off her leg, other parts of her body

could become large and swollen.

 

Voice 2

This is a common problem among people in very poor countries.

Mosquitos, insects that drink blood, spread the disease. The

mosquitos carry young worms, a long, thin organism, in their bodies.

These long thin organisms enter a person's body when the mosquito

bites him. One worm in a person's body does not do damage. But when

many worms enter a person's body, then problems begin.

 

Voice 1

Male and female worms mate inside a person's body. The female worm

releases many larvae, or baby worms, into a person's lymphatic

system. The lymphatic system is part of the immune system. It helps a

person to fight sickness. The lymphatic system is made up of two main

parts: the vessels and nodes. The vessels are tubes that spread

through a person's body. The nodes are like little balls connected to

the vessels. When the baby worms enter the lymphatic system, it

becomes infected. The worms cause these areas to fill up with fluid.

The name Lymphatic Filariasis comes from these two parts. Lymphatic

means the lymphatic system. Filariasis comes from the word filaria.

This is the scientific word for worms.

 

Voice 2

Over one hundred twenty million [120,000,000] people in eighty [80]

countries suffer from Lymphatic Filariasis. The disease affects

people in different ways. Some people's legs grow large like

Antoinette's leg. But more often, the disease affects men's sexual

organs. Many people are not comfortable talking about how the disease

affects men. Some men lie about their problem. They do not want to

admit that they have a disease.

 

Voice 1

Many men with Lymphatic Filariasis have enlarged scrotums. Sometimes

a scrotum, a part of the male sexual organ, grows past a man's knees.

This swelling is called a hydrocele. It can be very painful. It can

make walking difficult. But many men feel shame when they have this

problem. They do not talk about it. They do not seek help from a

doctor. If a man does not accept that he has a disease, he will never

get help.

 

Voice 2

Doctors can operate on men to make the hydrocele smaller. But swollen

legs cannot be made smaller. Filariasis can not be cured. The worms

are too strong. They live too deep in the body. Doctors cannot remove

them with surgery. Medicine today is aimed at killing the baby worms

in a person's body. The medicine prevents more worms from growing.

 

Voice 1

But the medicine does not fix the problem fast. The medicine cannot

kill the adult worms living in a person's body. A person with

filariasis must wait for the adult worm inside her to die. This may

last six years! And making sure that everyone in a community takes

their medicine can be difficult. Medicine also costs a lot of money.

Most people in these poor villages cannot buy it.

 

Voice 2

One way that people receive medicine is by using salt. The World

Health Organization has given money to start a salt program in Haiti.

Fifty [50] people in Haiti buy local sea salt. They remove rocks and

wood from the salt. Then they wash it. After that, they put liquid

medicine on it. They put the salt into containers. They sell it to

local people. It costs twenty-six [26] cents to make one container of

salt. But the people must sell the salt for ten [10] cents to compete

with normal salt prices. Local people use this salt in their homes.

But they also receive the medicine. This will prevent Filariasis from

spreading in Haiti.

 

Voice 1

The salt treatment has worked in other countries around the world.

China began to use the salt method in the nineteen seventies

[1970's]. China stopped the disease by ordering people in villages to

use this kind of salt. China stopped Filariasis because the Chinese

government supported the fight against the disease.

 

Voice 2

The World Health Organization has made a goal to stop this disease by

the year 2020. It will give medicine to the people in the villages.

The World Health Organization teams want to prevent people from

becoming infected by the worms. But they will also teach people who

already have the disease. The teams will teach them ways to fight

infection and reduce swelling. This treatment is already helping many

people like Antoinette. The World Health Organization hopes that soon

Lyphatic Filariasis will no longer exist.

 

Voice 1

The writer and producer of this program was Joshua Leo. The voices

you heard were from the United States. Computer users her these

programs, read our scripts, and see our word list on our website at

www.radio.english. net. This program is called " Lymphatic Filariasis,

a Worm Disease " .

 

Voice 2

We love to hear comments and questions from our listeners. If you

have a comment or question, you can e-mail us. Our e-mail address is

radio @ english . net. We hope you can join us again for the next

Spotlight program. Goodbye!