Leishmaniasis Epidemic in Southern Sudan

[Dora Ann Lange Canhos]

Press Release WHO/6
26 January 1993


LEISHMANIASIS EPIDEMIC IN SOUTHERN SUDAN

	  
	Between 300 000 and 400 000 persons in Southern Sudan are currently 
at risk of infection by Leishmaniasis - also known as Kala Azar - in what 
experts at the World Health Organization consider to be largest epidemic of 
the deadly disease in recorded history.  Recent reports suggest that as 
many as 40 000 persons may already have died and that the population of 
some villages has been reduced by 30 to 40%.

	The affected area, in the Upper West Nile province of Southern Sudan 
is a war zone.  Fighting between Sudanese governments troops and rebels of 
the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) has made it impossible to 
undertake the large scale measures required to control effectively the 
spread of the disease.  

	(Symptoms, prognosis)
	(Treatment)
	(Reference to Gulf war)

	The first signs of the epidemic became apparent in mid-1988 though it 
was first believe to be an epidemic of typhoid fever.  The non-governmental 
organizations "M‚decins sans FrontiŠres" (Netherlands) which had reported 
the first cases determined late in the year that the disease was indeed 
Leishmaniasis and that it affected thousands of persons both in Upper West 
Nile and in the capital, Khartoum, where many had fled in search of 
security.  

	(MSF Programme, WHO support)
	(Current situation, appeal?)