[Leish-l] name

[Narendra Kumar]

Historical Perspective Texts from the Inca period in the 15th and 16th centuries, and then during the Spanish colonization, mention the risk run by seasonal agricultural workers who returned from the Andes with skin ulcers which, in those times were attributed to "valley sickness" or "Andean sickness". Later, disfigurements of the nose and mouth become known as "white leprosy" because of their strong resemblance to the lesions caused by leprosy. In the Old World, Indian physicians applied the Sanskrit term kala azar (meaning "black fever") to an ancient disease later defined as visceral leishmaniasis. In 1901, Leishman identified certain organisms in smears taken from the spleen of a patient who had died from "dum-dum fever". At the time "Dum-dum", a town not far from Calcutta, was considered to be particularly unhealthy. The disease was characterized by general debility, irregular and repetitive bouts of fever, severe anemia, muscular atrophy and
 excessive swelling of the spleen. Initially, these organisms were considered to be trypanosomes, but in 1903 Captain Donovan described them as being new. The link between these organisms and kala azar was eventually discovered by Major Ross, who named them Leishmania donovani.


Narendra Kumar
Deputy Director,
Head, Division of Social Sciences,
Rajendra Memorial Research Institute Of Medical Sciences(ICMR)
Agam Kuan,Patna - 800 007
India.
Tel No. 91-0612-2631565
Fax No. 91-0612-2634379
 


--- On Fri, 16/4/10, ramesh we <weramesh at hotmail.com> wrote:


From: ramesh we <weramesh at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Leish-l] name
To: chncosta at gmail.com, cpeacock at cyllene.uwa.edu.au
Cc: leish-l at lineu.icb.usp.br
Date: Friday, 16 April, 2010, 7:08 AM




Kala-azar was a term coined for this fatal illness in the Garo hills of Assam before the causative organism was discovered. Literally it means 'black fever' ( kala meaning 'black' and azar from Persian meaning 'fever'). It referred to the hyperpigmentation of the face found in victims in whom the disease had become chronic. Now it is difficult to see it as people get treated and the disease does not smoulder for years.
Dr. Ramesh
 


Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2010 06:44:13 -0300
From: chncosta at gmail.com
To: cpeacock at cyllene.uwa.edu.au
CC: Leish-l at lineu.icb.usp.br
Subject: Re: [Leish-l] name


Interestingly, kala-azar has been adopted plenty in Brazil as "calazar", since the earlier scientific papers. However, it was adopted by authors from the Northeast, which is the main endemic area, like Prata and Alencar. Today, both names are normally use, but one may feel that visceral leishmaniasis could stand as more educated and kala-azar (calazar), as more informal, although, in my view both are interchangeable.
Carlos.


2010/4/6 Christopher Peacock <cpeacock at cyllene.uwa.edu.au>




Kala-azar is the Indian name for visceral leishmaniasis so used extensively in the Indian sub continent, it literally means black skin in Hindi I believe. Visceral leishmaniasis is the proper generic name for systemic leishmaniasis caused by L. donovani, L. infantum and L. (infantum) chagasi. Leishmaniasis has a vast array of names depending on the type and geographical location, there was a post on the number of names a few years ago.
 
 
 

From: leish-l-bounces at lineu.icb.usp.br [mailto:leish-l-bounces at lineu.icb.usp.br] On Behalf Of Carlos Costa
Sent: Wednesday, 24 March 2010 7:02 AM 

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

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-- 
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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