The State government is undertaking mass drug administration (MDA) for all the people in the eight endemic districts spread over coastal and high tropic regions for prevention and eradication of lymphatic filaria.
Barring children below the age of two years, pregnant women and those suffering from diseases, all others will be administered Di Ethyl Carbamazine Citrare (DEC) tablets in these districts on July 28.
On the following two days mop up drug administration will be taken up to cover each and every house.
The eigjht districts which are categorised as filaria endemic districts in which MDA will be taken up for three days from July 28-30 are: Gulbarga, Bidar, Raichur, Biajapur, Bagalkot, Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Udupi.
This is for the third time that MDA is being launched in these districts. First time it was carried out on 5th June 2004 and latter on 11th November 2005. Briefing media persons about the MDA drive here, Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey accompanied by Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer P C Jaffar and District Health Officer Dr Nalini Namoshi said the Central government as per its National Health Policy-2002 has decided to stamp out filaria by 2015 by observing National Filaria Day every year.
 The mass drug administration  programme was first undertaken in 1992 in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh and subsequently it was extended to Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal. And in 2004 it was taken up in Karnataka in the eight filaria endemic districts.
The DEC tablets supplied by the central government free of cost are administered  to kill micro filaria worms present in the blood of people hailing from filaria prone areas.
There would be no symptoms whatsoever in the primary stage of the disease. By administering DEC tablets filaria can be prevented effectively besides preventing the vectors from carrying micro filaria worm.
People have been strictky warned not to take DEC tablets with empty stomoch. Though there are serious side effects of the tablets the health department has made elaborate arrangements for treating side effects, if any, at all the primary health centres, community health centres, taluk hospitals, primary health units.
Pandey while asking people to take DEC tablets invariably to eradicate the disease said on the first day drug administrators will visit each and every house in all villages, tandas, hanmlets, towns and cities and on the following two days they would cover the missed and left out houses.
 It has been targtted to administer mass drug administration  to 31,84,718 people in the district.
There are about 11,000 filaria patients in the district.