[Leish-l] Fwd: name

Carlos Costa chncosta at gmail.com
Wed Apr 7 16:24:20 BRT 2010


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ashford, R <ashford at liverpool.ac.uk>
Date: 2010/4/6
Subject: RE: [Leish-l] name
To: Carlos Costa <chncosta at gmail.com>


 'Visceral leishmaniasis' is correct for all versions.  Personally I much
prefer to restrict 'kala azar' to the anthroponotic disease in the Indian
subcontinent.  The epidemiology is so different from that of L. infantum
infection that they deserve different names. The disease in East Africa is a
problem!

A serious constraint in advocacy of leish, one of the many reasons why
malaria is so much better known, is the confusion over the names and the
unfamiliarity of both 'leishmaniasis' and 'kala azar' in the public
consciousness.  Neither leish nor k-a is a household name.

This doesn't answer your question and, fortunately, we have no 'Academy' of
the English language, so there is no definitive answer.  All versions are
'correct' if they are routinely used, which means they have to be explained
and defined whenever they are used.

By the way, I believe the 'kala', which means 'black' (same root as 'coal')
refers not to skin colour, but to the seriousness of epidemics, as with
'black death' for whatever disease(s) (bubonic plague?) killed so many
people at that time.

Regards,

Dick Ashford

 Consultant Biologist
Richard W. Ashford DSc
142 Meols Parade
Meols
CH47 6AN
UK
Tel +44 (0)151 632 2714
 ------------------------------
*From:* leish-l-bounces at lineu.icb.usp.br [leish-l-bounces at lineu.icb.usp.br]
On Behalf Of Carlos Costa [chncosta at gmail.com]
*Sent:* 23 March 2010 23:02
*To:* Leish-L
*Subject:* [Leish-l] name

   *Visceral leishmaniasis or kala-azar? Which, when, how?*

Carlos.

-- 
Carlos H. N. Costa, MD, DSc.
Instituto de Doenças Tropicais Natan Portella
Universidade Federal do Piauí
Brazil
Telephone: +55 86 3221-3413




-- 
Carlos H. N. Costa, MD, DSc.
Instituto de Doenças Tropicais Natan Portella
Universidade Federal do Piauí
Brazil
Telephone: +55 86 3221-3413

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