[Leish-l] Leishmaniasis, visceral - Kenya: (NE)

[fred opperdoes]

> Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:28:04 -0400 (EDT)
> From: ProMED-mail <promed at promed.isid.harvard.edu>
> Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Leishmaniasis, visceral - Kenya: (NE)
>
> LEISHMANIASIS, VISCERAL - KENYA: (NORTH EAST)
> *********************************************
> 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: Wed 11 Jun 2008
> Source: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), Early  
> Warning
> [edited]
> <http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78687>
>
>
> An outbreak of visceral leishmaniasis -- also known as kala azar or  
> black
> fever -- has been reported in Isiolo and Wajir in north eastern Kenya.
> According to a senior health official 4 people have died.
>
> Shahnaaz Sharif, the senior deputy director of medical services in  
> Kenya's
> health ministry, said 66 people had been infected in the outbreak  
> that was
> first reported in Wajir in April 2008. Sharif said the most affected  
> age
> group was children between the age of one and 5 "This is due to  
> lowered
> immunity and the prevailing malnutrition problem in the northern  
> region,"
> he said.
>
> The most affected areas in Wajir are the districts of Wajir West  
> with 50
> per cent of the total cases (in the localities of Arbijahan, Eldas,
> Giristu, Wara, and Malale), Wajir East, and Wajir North. In Isiolo,  
> the
> Merta Alba area was the most affected.
>
> Sharif said the health ministry and other stakeholders were carrying  
> out
> case management and distributing drugs to the sick in treatment  
> centres in
> Wajir and Isiolo. The affected communities are also being provided  
> with
> health education on disease prevention and control, while therapeutic
> feeding of malnourished children is also taking place.
>
> Control measures for kala azar include the use of insecticide  
> treated bed
> nets and skin repellents as well as early diagnosis, complete  
> treatment,
> and effective surveillance. Sharif said it had not been possible to  
> reach
> all of those potentially affected by the outbreak as some had  
> travelled in
> search of water and pasture for their livestock. Isiolo and Wajir are
> located in Kenya's pastoral-nomadic region.
>
> Kala azar is endemic in northern Kenya and outbreaks are common in  
> times of
> drought. Once it enters the body, the leishmaniasis parasite, which is
> carried by sand flies, migrates to internal organs and bone marrow.  
> If an
> infection progresses to disease and is left untreated, it almost  
> always
> results in death.
>
> Sand flies thrive in the cracks of mud-covered dwellings, in cow  
> dung, rat
> burrows, anthills, dry riverbeds, and vegetation. In Wajir, the  
> flies often
> bite people as they dig for water in the bed of the Ewaso Nyiro  
> River or
> graze their livestock on nearby bushes. The most effective methods of
> diagnosing kala azar can only be conducted in large hospitals  
> located far
> from the worst-affected areas.
>
> - --
> communicated by:
> ProMED-mail
> <promed at promedmail.org>
>
> [Please see the extensive moderator's comment from the ProMED-mail  
> posting
> on VL (visceral leishmaniasis) in northern Kenya date 21 Jul 2006  
> (archive
> no. 20060721.2007). The comment concluded that, "The present  
> increase in
> cases is most probably part of a larger outbreak of the entire region
> including eastern Ethiopia, Somalia, and north eastern Kenya." The  
> comment
> posted 23 Jul 2006 (archive no. 20060723.2030) from Ellicott McConnell
> emphasized the connection between outbreaks of VL and malnutrition. It
> seems that malnutrition is still part of the problem and the  
> situation has
> not changed since 2006. - Mod.EP
>
> A map of Kenya is available at
> <http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/kenya.pdf>. -  
> CopyEd.MJ]
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lineu.icb.usp.br/pipermail/leish-l/attachments/20080616/9490f5eb/attachment.htm