[leish-l] Leishmaniasis in Afghanistan 3

[Fred R. Opperdoes]

At 17:20 -0400 12/05/02, ProMED Digest wrote:
>Date: Sun, 12 May 2002 13:59:09 -0400 (EDT)
>From: ProMED-mail <promed at promed.isid.harvard.edu>
>Subject: PRO/AH> Leishmaniasis - Afghanistan (03)
>
>LEISHMANIASIS - AFGHANISTAN (03)
>*******************************
>A ProMED-mail post
><http://www.promedmail.org>;
>ProMED-mail, a program of the
>International Society for Infectious Diseases
><http://www.isid.org>;
>
>Date: Sun, 12 May 2002
>From: Richard Reithinger, PhD, <rreithinger at yahoo.co.uk
>
>More background information on leishmaniasis in Afghanistan
>- ---------------------------------------------------------------
>If I may comment on Dan Michaeli's background information on cutaneous
>leishmaniasis in Afghanistan.
>
>Although he is correct in pointing out that the current leishmaniasis
>epidemic in Afghanistan is mostly due to Leishmania tropica, the vector is
>not Phlebotomus papatasi but Phlebotomus sergenti. Also the transmission
>cycle of Leishmania tropica is thought to be anthroponotic (i.e. humans are
>reservoir hosts) and not zoonotic - although this needs to be confirmed by
>epidemiological studies looking at candidate reservoir hosts (e.g.
>rodents). Phlebotomus papatasi is the vector of Leishmania major, the
>etiological agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis, which is common in
>the Northern provinces of Afghanistan.
>
>The current epidemic in Kabul is not 'new', but started about 10-15 years
>ago and is due to the political instability and lack of health
>infrastructure. Also, because of the mass-migration of L. tropica-infected
>Afghan refugees; (ii) the sporadic treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis
>cases by the Ministry of Public Health, WHO and NGOs; and (iii) the absence
>of vector control strategies, L. tropica has now spread to areas that
>previously were non-endemic for cutaneous leishmaniasis (e.g. the North
>West Frontier Province of Pakistan).
>- --
>Richard Reithinger, PhD, <rreithinger at yahoo.co.uk
>Programme Manager
>Malaria and Leishmaniasis Control Programme Afghanistan
>HealthNet International
>11-A Circular Lane
>P.O. Box 889
>University Town
>Peshawar, Pakistan
>
>[We thank Richard Reithinger very much for his comment which places the
>observed increase in the number of cases of cutaneous into proper
>perspective. ‚Mod. EP]
>...........................................mpp/ep/mpp
-- 
Fred R. Opperdoes,
Research Unit for Tropical Diseases (TROP) and
Laboratory of Biochemistry (BCHM)
Christian de Duve Institute of Cellular Pathology (ICP)
and Catholic University of Louvain (UCL)
Avenue Hippocrate 74-75, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium

Tel: ++32-2-764.74.39 (secretary) Fax: ++32-2-762.68.53
Tel: ++32-2-764.74.55 (direct)
Voicemail/fax: ++3270705047
E-mail:Opperdoes at trop.ucl.ac.be
Internet: http://www.icp.ucl.ac.be/trop/
           http://www.icp.ucl.ac.be/~opperd/Fred.html