goitre in Imphal East district of Manipur, north east India

The entire north eastern region of India including Manipur is in the classical goitre endemic belt of India1. Recognizing the importance of iodine deficiency as a public health problem, the entry of non iodized salt in this region was banned during 1988-1989 and since then edible salt fortified with iodine is being used2. In the post-salt iodization phase, endemic goitre has been reported from many new areas in the north eastern India including Imphal west district of Manipur3-5. Goitre survey conducted by the IDD Cell, Government of Manipur in 1992 and 1996 showed that the prevalence of goitre in Manipur was 21.1 and 13.0 per cent respectively5. In a recent study conducted by us in Imphal west district of Manipur on 961 school children in the age group 6-12 yr showed overall goitre prevalence 34.96 per cent in spite of adequate iodine intake5. The results of this study indicated that the prevalence of endemic goitre in Imphal west Dietary supplies of iodine & thiocyanate in the aetiology of endemi