<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><blockquote type="cite" class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Date: Thu, 21 May 2009 18:05:14 -0400 (EDT)<br>From: ProMED-mail <<a href="mailto:promed@promed.isid.harvard.edu">promed@promed.isid.harvard.edu</a>><br>Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Leishmaniasis - Iraq (MA)<br><br>LEISHMANIASIS - IRAQ (MAYSAN)<br>******************************<br>A ProMED-mail post<br><<a href="http://www.promedmail.org/">http://www.promedmail.org</a>><br>ProMED-mail is a program of the<br>International Society for Infectious Diseases<br><<a href="http://www.isid.org/">http://www.isid.org</a>><br><br>Date: 21 May 2009<br>Source: Alertnet citing IRIN [edited]<br><<a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/c05322ce32b8560c7e9371f1fd1e0598.htm">http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/c05322ce32b8560c7e9371f1fd1e0598.htm</a>><br><br><br>Nearly 200 cases of leishmaniasis have been registered in the <br>southern province of Missan [Maysan], about 350 km south of Baghdad, <br>a local health official said on 19 May 2009. "So far, we have <br>registered 190 cases of leishmaniasis in different parts of the <br>province, both in urban and rural areas and among different age <br>groups," Zamil Shia, the provincial health chief, told IRIN. Shia <br>said the epidemic was manageable at present and teams were monitoring <br>affected areas.<br><br>Leishmaniasis is also known as Baghdad boil, oriental sore, Aleppo <br>button, Jericho boil and Delhi boil. In its most unpleasant form -- <br>visceral leishmaniasis -- organ failure and death can result. It is <br>transmitted by the bite of the female sandfly. Dogs and other animals <br>can act as a source of infection to humans. Rodents, especially <br>certain species of rodent, are considered the main carriers.<br><br>Shia said people in affected areas tended to sleep in the open and in <br>places with poor sanitation.<br><br>According to the World Health Organization, the 20 or so infective <br>species or subspecies of the leishmaniasis parasite cause a range of <br>symptoms like fever, malaise, weight loss and anaemia, as well as -- <br>in its visceral form -- swelling of the spleen, liver and lymph <br>nodes. Cutaneous leishmaniasis -- the most common form -- causes <br>1-200 simple skin lesions which self-heal within a few months but <br>which leave unsightly scars. The disease's incubation period is up to <br>6 months, so doctors say thousands could have the disease without knowing it.<br><br>- --<br>Communicated by:<br>ProMED-mail Rapporteur Mary Marshall<br><br>[Leishmaniasis is widespread in Iraq, and ProMED reported <br>leishmaniasis from the southern province in May 2008 (see below). <br>Leishmania is transmitted by sandflies, and small rodents serve as <br>reservoirs. Control measures are vector and rodent control. Please <br>refer to the WHO statement concerning visceral leishmaniasis in Iraq, <br>published in ProMED-mail (Leishmaniasis - Iraq: comments 20030602.1348).<br><br>Map of Maysan province: <<a href="http://healthmap.org/r/00cP">http://healthmap.org/r/00cP</a>>. - Mod.EP]<br><br>[see also:<br>Leishmaniasis - Iraq: (Qadisiyah) 20080219.0674<br>2005<br>- ----<br>Leishmaniasis - Iraq (Baqubah) 20050406.0989<br>Leishmaniasis - Iraq: (Qadisiyah) 20080219.0674<br>2004<br>- ----<br>Leishmaniasis - Iraq: U.S. Military (04) 20040419.1091<br>Leishmaniasis - Iraq: U.S. Military (03) 20040402.0895<br>Leishmaniasis - Iraq: U.S. Military (02): comment 20040316.0729<br>Leishmaniasis - Iraq: U.S. Military 20040313.0696<br>2003<br>- ----<br>Leishmaniasis - Iraq: U.S. military 20031210.3026<br>Leishmaniasis - Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan: military 20031024.2669<br>Leishmaniasis - Iraq: comments 20030602.1348<br>Leishmaniasis - Iraq: RFI 20030531.1331<br>2001<br>- ----<br>Leishmaniasis, suspected - Iraq 20010917.2245]<br>.........................................ep/msp/mpp<br><br>------------------------------</span></blockquote></body></html>