<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; ">Date: Sat, 7 Nov 2009 17:52:43 -0500 (EST)<br>From: ProMED-mail <<a href="mailto:promed@promed.isid.harvard.edu">promed@promed.isid.harvard.edu</a>><br>Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Leishmaniasis, canine - Argentina: (SF)<br><br>LEISHMANIASIS, CANINE - ARGENTINA: (SANTA FE)<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: Fri 6 Nov 2009<br>Source: El Protagonista [in Spanish, trans. Sr.Tech.Ed.MJ, edited]<br><<a href="http://www.elprotagonistaweb.com.ar/index.php?go=v&id=3934">http://www.elprotagonistaweb.com.ar/index.php?go=v&id=3934</a>><br><br><br>Victoria Ramirez, provincial deputy of the Santa Fe [province], is<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>requesting that the Ministry of Health adopt all necessary measures to<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>prevent the spread of leishmaniasis, a disease that is present in the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>departments of the north of Santa Fe province and which threatens to become<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>an epidemic.<br><br>Her arguments are, "Canine visceral leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>transmitted through the bite of [an infected] mosquito. The disease,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>typical of tropical countries, is present in the north of the [Santa Fe]<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>province. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt urgent measures to prevent<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>its spread, which could lead to an epidemic.<br><br>"The Ministry of Health recently warned that, in addition to the provinces<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>of Misiones and Corrientes where the focus of infection is important, the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>provinces of Chaco, Entre Rios, and Santa Fe are also vulnerable to the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>disease.<br><br>"Both the cutaneous and visceral forms of leishmaniasis are treatable, but<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>they can be fatal if not detected promptly and treated adequately. [The<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>disease is transmitted when a mosquito bites an infected dog, becomes<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>infected, and bites a human]. Therefore, it is important to avoid the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>presence of the vector through insecticides and repellents to prevent<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>mosquito bites.<br><br>"In our province, cases have been detected in animals that should have been<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>culled, but fortunately the disease hasn't been transmitted to humans. At<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>the rural level, other warm blooded animals, such as horses, pigs, and<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>rats, are also potential transmitters of the disease.<br><br>"The veterinary colleges of the south of Santa Fe province warned that<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>during the next summer season [2009], we will be exposed to the risks of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>spread of this chronic disease. Therefore, it is essential to adopt<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>preventive measures," concluded Ramirez.<br><br>[byline: Fernando Brosutti]<br><br>- --<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>communicated by:<br>ProMED-mail<br><<a href="mailto:promed@promedmail.org">promed@promedmail.org</a>><br><br>[A total of 4 autochthonous cases of human visceral leishmaniasis (VL) were<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>reported in La Banda, Santiago del Estero, from June 2007 to May 2008<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>(Salomon OD, et al. Lutzomyia migonei as putative vector of visceral<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>leishmaniasis in La Banda, Argentina. Acta Trop 2009 Aug 28. [Epub ahead of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>print]<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br><<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19716797?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=2">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19716797?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=2</a>>).<br><br>Argentina reported 14 human leishmaniasis cases with visceral involvement<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>from 1925 to 1989. However, the risk of VL transmission changed when<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>Paraguay reported an autochthonous human case during 2000 in Asuncion, just<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>across the border with Clorinda city, Formosa, Argentina. From 2000 until<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>2006, the Program of Leishmaniasis of Paraguay recorded 126 cases of human<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>VL (66 only in 2006), 90.1 per cent from Asuncion and the nearest<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>Department of Central and also reported a high proportion of VL-infected<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>dogs in the same departments of the human cases (Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>2008; 103: 109-11 <<a href="http://www.scielo.br/pdf/mioc/v103n1/97.pdf">http://www.scielo.br/pdf/mioc/v103n1/97.pdf</a>>).<br><br>A recent study found that Clorinda is still at high risk of becoming an<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>intense focus of VL transmission and a source of dispersion to the south<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>along the highly trafficked roads; however, after 3 years the vector has<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>not colonized the closest villages. The VL canine prevalence is not a good<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>space-time indicator of parasite circulation or transmission intensity in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>these early VL scenarios close to borders with active VL transmission<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>(Salomon OD, et al. Visceral leishmaniasis in border areas: clustered<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>distribution of phlebotomine sand flies in Clorinda, Argentina. Mem Inst<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>Oswaldo Cruz 2009; 104: 801-4<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>(<<a href="http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_pdf&pid=S0074-02762009000500024&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en">http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_pdf&pid=S0074-02762009000500024&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en</a>>)).<br><br>In the Iguazu Falls area, on the border between Brazil and Paraguay, the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>incidence of human American cutaneous Llishmaniasis (ACL) has risen since<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>2004. Most of the 36 cases of human ACL reported until 2005 have been males<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>over 15 years old (75 per cent) infected during deforestation to establish<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>individual farms (Salomon OD, et al. Epidemiological aspects of cutaneous<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>leishmaniasis in the Iguazu falls area of Argentina. Acta Trop 2009; 109:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>5-11<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br><<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18983809?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=4">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18983809?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=4</a>>).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><br>- - Mod.EP]<br><br>[see also:<br>Leishmaniasis - Argentina: epidemic potential 20090225.0787]<br><br>....................ep/mj/ejp/sh<br><br>------------------------------</span></blockquote></div><br></body></html>