Sad and Disturbing news

[Jeffrey Shaw]

                                        In memoriam: Gamar Eldin Hassan Nur
Eldin


                           TDR staff were deeply saddened to learn of the
loss of Gamar, a research student sponsored by TDR,
                           who died while under treatment for kala-azar.

                           Gamar was born in Western Kurdufan State,
Western Sudan, in 1968, and graduated from the
                           University of Khartoum in 1995, where he had
majored in zoology. While a teaching assistant in El
                           Dalang University, Gamar began an MSc degree at
the Department of Zoology, University of
                           Khartoum, in 1997, and was working on the
transmission of Leishmania donovani in a kala-azar
                           endemic region of Eastern Sudan.

                           Gamar was diagnosed as having kala-azar and
hospitalized in Soba Hospital, where he was being
                           treated with pentostam. Like some other
kala-azar patients in Sudan - and their number is rising -
                           Gamar was resistant to treatment with pentostam,
and no alternative treatment was available. Gamar
                           died on 4 November 1999. It was a sad loss which
left staff at the hospital concerned for their other
                           patients.

                           Gamar was an active young researcher with a
promising future. He contributed to several TDR projects
                           on transmission of visceral leishmaniasis in Sudan.

                           Kala-azar has killed hundreds of thousands of
people, mostly children, in Sudan and the
                           rage is continuing without much notice outside.
The loss of this young scientist, who had the
                           best medical care available in Sudan, is an
alarm and reflects the devastating fate of
                           millions of poor people in this country during
the past decade.


http://www.who.int/tdr/publications/tdrnews/news61/student.htm