[Leish-l] FW: PRO/AH/EDR> Leishmaniasis - Pakistan (02): (KP)

Sat Jan 5 02:14:18 BRST 2013

Dear Dr. Mubasher Khan, 

Please note that most of the cases in Afghanistan are caused by L. Tropica. You may consider thermotherapt as an option for treatment, which seems to be cost effective. 

Regards 

Najibullah Safi, MD, MSc. HPM

We need to defend the interests of those whom we have never met and never will. Jeffrey D. Sachs 

http://najibullahsafi.blogspot.com/

Sent from my iPad

On Dec 27, 2012, at 10:50 AM, Mubashir Khan <mubashirbangash at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear All,
>  
> Hello
>  
> Unfotunately cutaneous leishmaniasis cases are wide spread in different parts of Khyber Pakhtun khwa province of Pakistan. This province is one of the backward and remote provinces of Pakistan. The CL cases has been reported from all over this province through out the year. Khyber agency is about 100 kms from Kohat where i am based and working on leishmaniasis. During my PhD i worked on CL in three districts of this province, Kohat, Karak and Hangu. There are hundreds of cases in all these three districts plus hundreds of extra cases which remain un noticed. Its very unfortunate that there is no case recording system for lesihmaniasis being practised in any of Government or private hospitals of Pakistan. So hundreds of cases remain un noticed. The toll of CL in this province is increasing day by day. I have done molecular identification of leishmania species in these districts by PCR and RFLP. L. tropica is the prevailing specie in this part of Pakistan. L. major was also characterized in some of the samples but most of such patients with L. major had travelling history to Afghanistan and some endemic parts of Pakistan like Balochistan and Sindh province where the L. major is prevalent specie. More over sand flies have been trapped in the study districts and we need to identify the species. The mass movement of Internally displaced people (IDPs) from tribal areas (military operation zones) of Khyber Pkhtunkhwa province has resulted in bringing the infection to urban areas of this province. Taking advantage of this platform, there is another very important issue which i want to highlight here is the unavailability of specific treatment (injection glucantime sanofi aventis or pentostan) in local hospitals. these injections are very expensive (About 2000 pakistani rupees/ 20 dollars for one box containg 5 ampules of 5 cc each). The poor people are unable to afford high cost of this medicine. This medicine is not registered in Pakistan and usually smuggled from Afghanistan or being provided to some health authorities by WHO in limited number, which is not accessible to poor people. So we want help from international agencies if somebody can help us in this regard. We have personally helped about 100 patients in free treatment and they were successfully treated by Glucantime injections (Special thanks to Dr. Kasbari Mohammad, ANSES France for his personal effort and financial help)
>  I am already working under kind supervision and  guidence of Dr. Kasbari Mohammad (ANSES, France) who has trianed me in leishmaniasis research. We need futher help from scientific people who can collaborate with our university in scientific research as there are many areas untouched in this part of Pakistan and also unfortunately we dont have too many expert people in this field from Pakistan.
>  
> Thanks all.
>  
> Dr. Mubashir Hussain, Pakistan
> 
> On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 7:21 AM, jeffrey shaw <jayusp at hotmail.com> wrote:
> From: ProMED-mail <promed at promed.isid.harvard.edu>
> Date: 2012/11/22
> Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Leishmaniasis - Pakistan (02): (KP)
> To: promed-ahead-edr at promedmail.org
> 
> 
> LEISHMANIASIS - PAKISTAN (02): (KHYBER AGENCY)
> ************************************************
> 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: Tue 20 Nov 2012
> Source: Frontier Post [edited]
> <http://www.thefrontierpost.com/article/192733/>
> 
> 
> Leishmaniasis disease on rise in Khyber Agency
> ----------------------------------------------
> The increasing number of leishmaniasis patients in areas of Khyber
> Agency negates the claims of the Fata Health Department in taking
> measures to eradicate the disease. Currently there are around 400 to
> 500 locals and Afghan refugees who are suffering from the disease in
> the Khyber Agency areas near Pak-Afghan border.
> 
> Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites that belong
> to the genus Leishmania and is transmitted by the bite of certain
> species of sand fly. It is a contiguous disease and according to the
> experts mostly Afghan refugees bring the disease with them when they
> enter the Pakistani border. Locals showing concern over the spread of
> the disease said the alarming number of leishmaniasis patients was due
> to the arrival of Afghan refugees in different areas of Khyber
> Agency.
> 
> Perwaiz Khan of Landikotal Tehsil was of the view that lack of
> awareness among people regarding the disease not only kept patients
> away from the hospitals but also created problems for the health
> department to contact the patients. He flayed Fata Secretariat and
> health department for not devising plan to eliminate the disease. He
> remarked that awareness programme at local levels should be initiated
> and it would help root out the disease from the area. The children all
> the day long are playing in a stagnant water in which the lethal
> mosquitoes exist and resultantly they are attacked by mosquitoes,
> Perwaiz reasoned.
> 
> On the other hand the Medical Officer in Torkham BHU Ilyas Afridi when
> contacted said more than 350 registered patients of leishmaniasis
> received free medicine and treatment and 80 percent of the patients
> among them were recovered. Children who are working as laborers are
> immensely affected because of leishmaniasis illness.
> 
> Coordinator of EDWS for Khyber Agency, Dr Shams ur Rehman said all the
> reported leishmaniasis patients were equipped with medicine and were
> properly recovered. He went on to say that they had handed over the
> required medicines and injections to each BHUs and civil dispensaries.
> Their team is responsible for visiting the spot and facilitating the
> suffered patients by giving him free medicine even if the case
> happened anywhere in Khyber Agency; Shams said and adding moving into
> Bara Tehsil sometimes create impediments in their work.
> 
> [Byline: Farid Shinwari]
> 
> --
> Communicated by:
> ProMED-mail
> <promed at promedmail.org>
> 
> [Leishmaniasis, especially cutaneous leishmaniasis, was highly endemic
> in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime. The high number of
> leishmaniasis (cutaneous we presume) among refugees from Afghanistan
> underline the fact that the disease is not under control in
> Afghanistan and that treatment facilities are inadequate. - Mod.EP
> 
> A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map can be accessed at:
> <http://healthmap.org/r/1iGJ>.]
> 
> [see also:
> Leishmaniasis - Pakistan: (KP) cutaneous: 20120429.1117486
> Leishmaniasis - UK ex Afghanistan: military: 20120108.1003634
> 2010
> ----
> Leishmaniasis - Afghanistan (03): (HR): 20101106.4015
> Leishmaniasis - Afghanistan (02) 20101016.3753
> Leishmaniasis  Afghanistan 20101016.3750
> 2007
> ----
> Leishmaniasis  Afghanistan 20070508.1487
> Leishmaniasis - Pakistan (Balochistan, Sindh)(02) 20050206.0403
> Leishmaniasis - Pakistan (Balochistan, Sindh) 20050113.0115
> 2004
> Leishmaniasis - Pakistan & India: background: 20040201.0392
> Leishmaniasis - Pakistan (Sind) (02): 20040127.0324
> Leishmaniasis - Pakistan (Sind): 20040126.0309
> 2003
> ----
> Leishmaniasis - Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan: military 20031024.2669
> Leishmaniasis - Iraq: comments (02) 20030612.1445
> Leishmaniasis - Iraq: comments 20030602.1348
> Leishmaniasis - Iraq: RFI 20030531.1331
> Leishmaniasis - Afghanistan 20030909.2267
> 2002
> ----
> Leishmaniasis - Afghanistan (07) 20020703.4662
> Leishmaniasis - Afghanistan (06) 20020629.4633
> Leishmaniasis - Afghanistan (05) 20020515.4212
> Leishmaniasis - Afghanistan (04) 20020523.4304
> Leishmaniasis - Afghanistan (Kabul): alert 20020508.4134
> 1996
> ----
> Infectious diseases - Afghanistan 19960802.1377]
> .................................................sb/ep/ejp/ml
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> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Dr. Mubashir Hussain
> Ph.D, M.Phil, DVM (Gold Medal)
> Lecturer
> Department of Microbiology
> Kohat University of Science & Technology (KUST)
> Kohat, 26000
> Pakistan
> +92-3334380950
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