Infectious "Black Flies" Invade Krachie District

THE invasion of pestilent black flies several towns in the Krachie district of the Volta region is causing considerable harm to hundreds of inhabitants, and has forced children and farmers to take cover for safety elsewhere, having abandoned their farms.

The invading similium flies, which are locally known as ‘black flies,’ give bites which can cause ‘similium damnosum’ disease. This infection, causes blindness, skin diseases of different types and hardens the skin with rashes on its victims.

The source of the black flies is believed to be the Asukawkaw and Waywa rivers, which are about 20km away from the affected area in the district.

The most affected of the many towns with 100,000 inhabitants are Tukuroano, Kunda, Adunkwanta, Katanga and Asukawkaw. While Adonkonta, Tukuroano,

Dormabin, Kparekpare and Dambai, which are less affected towns, could be infested sooner or later by the notorious black flies.

Robert Coomson, district co-ordinator of Sight Savers International’s Integrated Education Programme for the blind in the Krachie district, broke the news to the Daily Guide during the paper’s fact-finding tour concerning the disease in the district last month.

According to him, the situation began last year on a slow pace, but has intensified severely in this yea’s farming season.

He claimed that the severity of the flies’ invasion is that majority of the farmers are being made to flee their farms every day, and that if nothing is done early, the infection caused by the flies on the towns and people would be grave in that sector of the country.

As matter of urgency, the chiefs and people of the district have, therefore, resolved at a meeting held on September 8, to address the outbreak in a petition to government for quick action.

The basic profession of the people within the affected area is farming; they produce yam, cassava, maize, groundnuts, cocoayam and beans, amongst other crops.

The Krachie district programme for the blind, which is a pilot project, is district-oriented, and at the moment, it has 16 permanent cases, with severe sight problems and 200 minor ones, including others with varying degrees of sight defects.

In 1980, the World Health Organisation (WHO) conducted a mass spraying exercise to stop an earlier invasion of the these dreaded flies whose activities can be dangerous to the economic production and development of the people and their community.

In another related news, Robert Coomson also disclosed to the Guide the discovery of another disease “bilharziasis,” in the Dambai, Ayirefie-Bator, Dadoto and Katanga-Torau communities which he described as becoming full-blown as well in the district.

Robert Coomson revealed that bilharziasis is derived from a tiny worm found in the White Volta and its surrounding islands of the Volta river. The aftermath effect of the disease, according to him, can cause low sperm-count, blood oozing after urination, impotency, as well as blindness in the long run.