[Leish-l] PRO/AH/EDR> Leishmaniasis, cutaneous - Colombia‏ 2nd circular

[jeffrey shaw]

The has been circulated again as for some reason our server cut off the report which was in an http format!

This is an interesting report that possibly indicates CL urbanization. The 5 
month CL figures for Colombia are low which may or may not support the 
Colombian Secretary of Health´s opinion of successful control.  Given 
the zoonotic
cycle of CL it seems unlikely that the disease will be eradicated as 
suggested in a local newspaper (El Espectador)

The link to the source shows a picture of Aedes not a sand fly!

Recorded cases in Colombia have increased from an average of 6500
cases per year in the 1990s to 18 098 in 2005 and 16 098 in 2006, and
cutaneous leishmaniasis comprises 95 percent of reported cases
(Zambrano P: Comportamiento de la leishmaniasis en Colombia. Biomedica
(Bogota) 2007; 27(2):83-4). - Mod.EP


Colombian authorities warned of a potential skin disease outbreak
Thursday [14 Jun 2012] after 7 cases of leishmaniasis were reported in
the southcentral city of Neiva.

Date: Fri 15 Jun 2012
Source: Colombia Reports [edited]
<http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/24591-yellow-alert-for-skin-disease-in-central-colombia-el-espectador.html>

The Colombian Secretary of Health, Mauricio Santa Maria, said that
there have been 36 registered cases throughout the country in 2012 of
the skin disease known as leishmaniasis, which is caused by protozoan
parasites and transmitted by sandfly bites.

The disease's symptoms include skin sores and in some cases fever,
anemia and damage to the liver and spleen. Santa Maria noted that 7
cases were concentrated in Neiva, a city located in the southern
department of Huila.

Officials raised the alert level for the disease from green to yellow
to hinder the breakout of a larger epidemic. A yellow alert level
means the state-run Committee for Disaster Prevention and Response
convenes to identify risk factors in the case of a possible outbreak.

Juan Gonzalo Lopez, director of Colombia's National Health Institute,
said that the number of reported cases had decreased in the past few
years. He also said he was "optimistic" about the possibility of
completely eradicating the disease from Colombian soil, according to
El Espectador [newspaper].

Currently, there are no vaccines used to prevent the disease. Drug
treatments typically include a chemical element known as antimony,
although several less commonly used treatments exist. Leishmaniasis is
easily transmitted in tropical and sub-tropical locales and has been
reported in 88 countries.

[Byline: Olle Ohlsen Pettersson]

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail from HealthMap alerts
<promed at promedmail.org>

[Cutaneous leishmaniasis in Colombia has recently been reviewed
(Valderrama-Ardila C: Environmental Risk Factors for the Incidence of
American Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in a Sub-Andean Zone of Colombia
(Chaparral, Tolima). Am J Trop Med Hyg 2010; 82(2): 243-50; available
at <http://www.ajtmh.org/content/82/2/243.long>).

Cutaneous leishmaniasis transmission has been shifting from sylvatic
areas to domestic and peridomestic habitats (Davies CR et al: The
epidemiology and control of leishmaniasis in Andean countries. Cad
Saude Publica 2000; 16(4): 925-50; available at
<http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-311X2000000400013&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en>).

Recorded cases in Colombia have increased from an average of 6500
cases per year in the 1990s to 18 098 in 2005 and 16 098 in 2006, and
cutaneous leishmaniasis comprises 95 percent of reported cases
(Zambrano P: Comportamiento de la leishmaniasis en Colombia. Biomedica
(Bogota) 2007; 27(2):83-4). - Mod.EP

A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map can be accessed at:
<http://healthmap.org/r/2u93>.]
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