KENYA: Kalazar/Leishmaniasis.

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78687

KENYA: Four dead in black fever outbreak

NAIROBI, 11 June 2008 (IRIN) - Four people have died in an outbreak of visceral leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease also known as kalazar or black fever, in Isiolo and Wajir in northeastern Kenya, according to a senior health official.

Shahnaaz Sharif, the senior deputy director of medical services in Kenya's health ministry, said 66 people had been infected in the outbreak that was first reported in Wajir in April 2008.

Sharif said the most affected age group was children between the age of one and five.

"This is due to lowered immunity and the prevailing malnutrition problem in the northern region," he said.

The most affected areas in Wajir are the districts of Wajir West with 50 percent of the total cases (in the localities of Arbijahan, Eldas, Giristu, Wara and Malale), Wajir East and Wajir North. In Isiolo, the Merta Alba area was the most affected.

Sharif said the health ministry and other stakeholders were carrying out case management and distributing drugs to the sick in treatment centres in Wajir and Isiolo.

The affected communities are also being provided with health education on disease prevention and control, while therapeutic feeding of malnourished children is also taking place.

Control measures for kalazar include the use of insecticide treated bed nets and skin repellents as well as early diagnosis, complete treatment and effective surveillance.

Sharif said it had not been possible to reach all of those potentially affected by the outbreak as some had travelled in search of water and pasture for their livestock. Isiolo and Wajir are located in Kenya's pastoral-nomadic region.

Once it enters the body, the leishmaniasis parasite, which is carried by sand flies, migrates to internal organs and bone marrow. If an infection progresses to disease and is left untreated, it almost always results in death.

Sand flies thrive in the cracks of mud-covered dwellings, in cow dung, rat burrows, anthills, dry river beds and vegetation. In Wajir, the flies often bite people as they dig for water in the bed of the Ewaso Nyiro River or graze their livestock on nearby bushes.

Kalazar is endemic in northern Kenya and outbreaks are common in times of drought.

The most effective methods of diagnosing kalazar can only be conducted in large hospitals located far from the worst-affected areas.

aw/am/jm

 

[Shiloh]

Re: KENYA: Four dead in black fever outbreak

Re: KENYA: Four dead in black fever outbreak

Source: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79122

KENYA: Lack of facilities hampering bid to halt black fever outbreak

ISIOLO, 7 July 2008 (IRIN) - A lack of laboratory facilities, transport and skilled medical workers is hampering efforts to tackle an outbreak of visceral leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease also known as kala azar or black fever, in northern Kenya?s Isiolo and Wajir districts, officials said.

"We have a serious shortage of personnel to cover the affected area. We are also faced with the problem of mobility as we have only one vehicle for the work," said Ali Wario, a public health officer in Isiolo, told IRIN.

He added that there was a lack of personnel trained in the prevention and management of the disease.

The outbreak has killed five people since it was first recorded in April 2008. Ten more cases were confirmed in July by a special surveillance team. In early June, the total number of confirmed cases was 66.

?We must now move to prevent as we treat the cases at Merti [health centre in Isiolo], but lack of medicines and transport must be addressed urgently,? he added.

A local councillor, Ibrahim Halake, appealed to the government and aid agencies to provide vehicles to help affected families travel to health centres.

"Families are selling their animals. We have been asked on several occasions to help raise funds for those who are sick. Many families are poor and cannot afford to travel to the health centre - it is far," he told IRIN.

Once it enters the body, the leishmaniasis parasite, which is carried by sand flies, migrates to internal organs and bone marrow. If an infection progresses and is left untreated, it almost always results in death.

Sand flies thrive in the cracks of mud-covered dwellings, in cow dung, rat burrows, ant-hills, dry river beds and vegetation. In Wajir, the flies often bite people as they dig for water in the bed of the Ewaso Nyiro River or graze their livestock.

Kala azar is endemic in northern Kenya and outbreaks are common in times of drought.

na/am/mw

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: KENYA: Four dead in black fever outbreak

Re: KENYA: Four dead in black fever outbreak

Kalazar devastating lives of children in Northern Kenya
Written by Suleiman Mbatiah
Friday, 13 March 2009

A relentless Kalazaar outbreak in Northern Kenya has over the past one decade claimed hundreds of young children under the age of ten years.

Kalazar is another name for the disease more commonly known as Leishmaniasis.

The Kenyan Government and the World Health Organization (WHO) have revealed a shocking statistics of how the killer disease have wiped generations of children dating back to 1935.

A forum to train health workers on the management of the disease at Wajir town yesterday was told the disease is alarming particularly in Wajir and Isiolo districts which have been hit hard in the past three years.

Kalazaar is an infectious killer protozoan disease transmitted by parasites- insects called sandfly that lives in anthills a common feature in the region.

Darkening of the skin, mostly face and hands, and at times abdominal pain are the common symptoms.

The liver and spleen elongates and in children it may lead to jaundice or even death.

In 2003 six children succumbed to the same disease while in 2006 over 10 children from Merti Division on the Wajir -Isiolo districts border.

About 400 cases of Kalazar were last year alone diagnosed of the disease with about 30 deaths reported during the same year.

In the past few weeks alone another 60 children were admitted and two of them succumbed to the malevolent disease.

The ministry of health and WHO are now concerting efforts to mitigate what they called Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) of the times.

?We have been seeing re-emergence of the disease in the past few years? Dr Guracha Argata of WHO?s Garissa Field Office told Africa Science News Service.

The parasite resides in the bone marrow, liver and spleen. Doctors said lack of trained health personnel in the impoverished region is a key factor to curb the menace.

The treatment of the disease can last for 1-3 months and the parasite can live in the body for more than two years.

Under a strict monitoring by doctors, a patient gets injections- pentamidine, amphotericin or can take tablets mostly Milterfosine.

?More attention and resources need to be directed to this region in order to avert death of young children? said Dr. Kiluva Stephen Isiolo District Medical Officer of Health.

The Kalazar Project is run by M?decins Sans Fronti?res ( MSF-Switzerland) with funding from DFID, set up in 2006 in the Pokot District of North Western Kenya, close to the border with Uganda. Mundane health facilities at Isiolo district hospital have rendered most children to go with out specialized treatment, becoming bedridden and eventually dying of the disease.

?The current trend is worrisome, we need to handle it? said Dr. Stephen.

According to Medical officials Kalazaar is now getting endemic in over five districts in Northern Kenya .

Locals are urged to erect sleeping net over their beds at night while sleeping.

http://africasciencenews.org/asns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1080&Itemid=2