[leish-l] Leishmaniasis - Pakistan (Balochistan, Sindh) (02)

[Fred R. Opperdoes]

At 10:58 AM -0500 2/6/05, ProMED Digest wrote:
>
>Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 10:58:51 -0500 (EST)
>From: ProMED-mail <promed at promed.isid.harvard.edu>
>Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Leishmaniasis - Pakistan (Balochistan, Sindh)(02)
>
>LEISHMANIASIS - PAKISTAN (BALOCHISTAN, SINDH) (02)
>***********************************************
>A ProMED-mail post
><http://www.promedmail.org>
>ProMED-mail is a program of the
>International Society for Infectious Diseases
><http://www.isid.org>
>
>Date: Sat 5 Feb 2005
>From: ProMED-mail <promed at promedmail.org
>Source: The News [edited]
><http://jang.com.pk/thenews/feb2005-daily/04-02-2005/national/n3.htm >
>
>
>Meeting discusses steps for prevention of leishmaniasis
>- -----------------------
>At Chandka Medical College (CMC), Larkana, Prof Sikandar Ali Shaikh chaired
>a meeting on Thursday to review measures to stop the spread of
>leishmaniasis in Larkana and Dadu districts. The meeting was held on the
>directives of Sindh health secretary, as the outbreak of leishmaniasis has
>reportedly affected hundreds of people in both the districts. CMC Hospital
>Medical Superintendent Dr Syed Mehboob Shah assured the meeting of his
>all-out support for containing leishmaniasis. He said that the hospital
>administration had already initiated measures in this regard.
>
>Larkana District Health Officer Dr Khalil Ahmed Katpar told the meeting
>that the disease was on the rise in Larkana city and pointed out the
>unavailability of sodium [stibogluconate] injections, which is used in
>treatment of leishmaniasis. He said that more than 400 cases of
>leishmaniasis were reported in the Larkana district.
>
>The meeting called for a spray in the affected areas to kill sand flies,
>which [spread] leishmaniasis. The meeting was attended among others by Head
>of the Department of  Community Medicine of CMC Larkana Dr Abrar Ahmed
>Shaikh, Senior Registrar of the Dermatology Department Dr Muzaffar Ali
>Shaikh, Dr Farooqur Rehman Soomro, Dr Aijaz Hussain Solangi, and Dr Abdul
>Ghaffar Shaikh.
>
>- --
>ProMED
><promed at promedmail.org>
>
>[ProMED has commented thoroughly on the prospects of controlling
>leishmaniasis through spraying campaigns [see ProMED posting
>20050113.0115], and there seem to be conflicting views of the most
>appropriate control measures between the Pakistani authorities and the WHO
>[see ProMED posting 20040126.0309]. It now seems that the authorities have
>decided to launch a spraying campaign, and we hope they refer to indoor
>residual house spraying and not aerial spraying, which has never been
>proved to be effective in preventing transmission of leishmaniasis. But
>indoor residual house-spraying will only work if the phlebotomine sandfly
>vectors rest in houses alone.- Mods.EP/MS]

-- 
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
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E-mail:Opperdoes at bchm.ucl.ac.be
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           http://www.icp.ucl.ac.be/~opperd/Fred.html