Materia Medica Malaysiana

Malaysian parasitologist Ramachandran honoured
From the NST June 14,2003
KUALA LUMPUR, June 14: Malaysian parasitologist Professor Datuk C.P. Ramachandran has been made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, London, in recognition of outstanding services to tropical disease research.
He is noted for his initiative that led to the Global Programme for the Elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis by the World Health Organisation.
Ramachandran is the first Malaysian to receive this honour from the Royal Society since its establishment in 1907.
Currently with Universiti Putra's School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ramachandran was formerly chief of filariasis research and control at the WHO.
He was a founder member and past president of the Malaysian Society of Tropical Medicine.
Ramachandran was instrumental in bringing world focus on the magnitude of the filariasis problem and highlighted its socio-economic burden on developing countries. The sheer scale of treatment costs can bankrupt health services.
In 1994, Ramachandran convened in Penang the first meeting at which all the arsenal to fight filariasis was reviewed to create a global strategy. By the turn of the century, two drug companies — SmithKline Beecham and Merck & Co — had donated all the medicine needed to wipe out filariasis by the year 2020.

Filariasis, better known as elephantisis, is a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by parasitic worms spread by mosquitoes which, when biting infected people, pick up parasites at its smallest stage.
Worldwide, some 120 million people are infected with filarial parasites. More than one billion people are at risk.
Filariasis does not rank high in Malaysia because of effective overall drug and vector control programmes but this country remains vigilant because the disease is still rampant in the region.
Filariasis, the most prevalent of all tropical diseases, is endemic in most parts of Asia east of India, nearly all the Pacific nations except Australia, most of Africa and Brazil.
Although rarely fatal, it is the second leading cause of permanent and long term disability in the world. More than 40 million people have its most easily recognised sign — grotesque swelling of the limbs. Hidden signs include genital disfigurement and damage to kidneys and the lymph circulation system.