Among those who are happy on Youyou Tu being declared joint winner of the 2015 Nobel prize for medicine are the poor Adivasis of Adilabad in Telangana State. They have every reason to be joyous as recognition and honour came the way of the Chinese professor of medicine for her discovery of Artemisinin, a drug to control malaria, the scourge of Sirpur (U), Jainoor, Narnoor, Utnoor and Indervelli revenue mandals in this backward district.
The killer disease torments the hapless tribal people every year and has accounted for a large number of deaths since 1999 when its spread broke out as a major epidemic. This year however, the number of deaths was brought under control due to the use of Artemisinin Combination Therapy (ACT), a treatment made possible only because of Youyou Tu’s discovery.
“Yes, Artemisinin, the drug discovered by Ms. Tu was effective in control of malaria, especially the mortality involved,” vouched R.V. Karnan, the Project Officer of Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Utnoor. “Limiting the death toll at 18 was a near miracle as this is the biggest outbreak of malaria since 1999,” he observed driving home the point on ACT’s effectiveness.
The death toll was highest at 1,700 of the 11,000 tribal people who tested positive for malaria in 1999. The next outbreak of malaria in 2007 left 138 dead of the 2,165 patients who tested positive.
The number of the deceased patients due to malaria was 69 in 2012, 24 in 2013, 36 in 2014 and 18 so far this epidemic season. The incidence of malaria nevertheless is much bigger now as the number of the patients who tested positive is a whopping 6,000.
“We stuck to the guidelines of the National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme (NVBDCP) and the World Health Organisation in giving the ACT which happens to be on a massive scale,” Mr. Karnan said. “We purchased 20,000 ACT units to be given to patients in different age groups no sooner malaria tested positive in individual patients,” he added of the effort and method through which the ITDA went about tackling the recurrent menace.
The NVBDCP has banned mono therapy of Artemisinin derivative drugs as these could eventually lead to development of resistance for malaria drugs.
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