Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak toll 400+ in Jonglei state; spread to Unity State results in 27 deaths

[Ronan Kelly]

Kala-zar outbreak kills more than 40 people in Jonglei state
Sunday 8 August 2010

August 7, 2010 (BOR) ? Officials in Jonglei state have reported an outbreak of the deadly Kalazar disease in the area. The disease which struck this week has already left 48 people dead and more than 130 people hospitalized, with the fear that the death toll could get higher.

According to the minister for law enforcement in the state, Gabriel Duop Lam, the victims were having difficulty accessing areas where they could receive medical treatment.

Mr. Duop who returned from Ayod town on Thursday added that many patients are locked up in villages due to lack of transport and heavy flooding in the area, thus making it difficult for them to access health units.

?In Ayod, 48 people died and 138 people are admitted,? Duop said, adding that it was not possible to evaluate fatalities in areas inaccessible by road from Ayod County center.

Fangak and Pigi Counties have also reported kalazar cases according to Radenta Ayen, Jonglei state minister of Health, who described the development in Ayod as ?the worse.?

Ayen said health facilities will be sent to the area immediately. She swiftly called for international humanitarian organization for assistance. Kala-zar, also known as visceral leishmaniasis, is common in northern Counties of Jonglei state.
http://sudantribune.com/spip.php?article35888

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 40 people in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 40 people in Jonglei state

Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE67800M20100809

S. Sudan disease kills 31; treatment impeded
Mon Aug 9, 2010 12:10pm GMT

JUBA Sudan (Reuters) - A deadly tropical disease has killed 31 people since June and infected 118 others in south Sudan, with tribal clashes and heavy rains hindering treatment, a government health official said on Monday...

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 40 people in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 40 people in Jonglei state

Source: http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article36089


Kala-azar death toll reaches 50 in Jonglei state
Saturday 28 August 2010

August 26, 2010 (BOR) ? At least 56 people are dead and over 200 hospitalized in Ayod county of Jonglei state since a Kala-azar outbreak began in June, official records indicate...

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 40 people in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 40 people in Jonglei state

Kala-azar, floods threaten human health in Jonglei state
Sunday 5 September 2010 Send

September 4, 2010 (BOR) ? Authorities in Southern Sudan?s state of Jonglei say villagers whose houses are trapped by flooding and family members suffering from Kala-azar, face health risks.


Jonglei state governor Kuol Manyang Juuk (ST)Speaking at Ayod primary health care center on Friday, Jonglei state governor Kuol Manyang Juuk describes the situation of over 200 Kala-azar patients there as catastrophic.

Governor Kuol visited Twic East, Duk and Ayod counties on Friday. The three counties are among flood hit areas in Jonglei state alongside Pibor, Fangak, Akobo, Pochala, Uror and Pigi as well as part of Bor.

In Panyagor, the headquarters of Twic East County, the governor?s team and other media houses and families converge in high ground homes. Some huts stand tilting toward the ground in water. Cattle are fed indoors as grazing sites are sunk under water. A flock of dead chickens lies in road?s pavement in the Twic East main town.

At least 33,000 people are affected in Twic East alone, according to South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation representatives. Twic East commissioner Dau Akoi Jurkuch told the Sudan tribune that local resources are being used to building dykes around severely affected huts.

From the helicopter, water could be clearly seen over neighboring Payam of Wernyol and Kongoor?s Pawel Ajang. Moving northward to Duk County, villagers in Poktap and Duk Deng are trying to build dykes in attempt to stop water from sweeping through the grass thatch huts.

Airstrip at Duk Deng is completely under water for the helicopter to land and the team proceeded to Duk Padiet.

The Duk County commissioner Aluong Macuor Kulang said all residential areas are threatened. Kulang added that cases of diarrhea were increasing among children and elderly people. Local health workers say patients with symptom of Kala-azar are emerging in recent days in Duk.

In Ayod where Kala-azar patients are overwhelming primary health workers, the situation is worsening, according to county commission Thoi Ruet Ret. Ruet said ?The situation is alarming. It is becoming impossible to reach [Kala-azar] patients in far locations.?

?In particular, children and elderly people are increasingly suffering from diarrhea,? a health worker identifying himself as James told the Sudan Tribune in Ayod.

There are four health officials in Ayod PHCC including expert in Kala-azar ? a disease caused by sand fly. Kala-azar affects viscera and imparts blood production. It has history of reoccurring in northern counties in Jonglei state.

Health officials say the death toll now stands at 59 following the death of one patient early on Friday on September 3.

continues at; http://sudantribune.com/spip.php?article36177

(ST)

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 300 people in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 300 people in Jonglei state

Upsurge of kala-azar cases in Southern Sudan requires rapid response

Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

Date: 08 Oct 2010

8 October 2010 ? Juba, Sudan -- Recurrent outbreaks of visceral leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease also known as kala-azar, have been reported in Southern Sudan, with 6363 cases and 303 deaths (case fatality rate of 4.7%) recorded since outbreaks began in September 2009.

The number of cases is more than six times higher than the same period starting in 2007 (when 758 cases were recorded) and 2008 (582 cases).

Most affected patients (70%) are children aged under 15 years who already suffer from concurrent malnutrition and other secondary illnesses.

Read more - Reliefweb

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 300 people in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 300 people in Jonglei state

SUDAN: Severe rise in Kala-azar cases in South

Kala-azar patients outside the Malakal Hospital: The disease is endemic in some parts of Southern Sudan (file photo)​

Photo: Peter Martell/IRIN​

NAIROBI, 15 October 2010 (IRIN) - A failed harvest and the effects of prolonged flooding may be fuelling an outbreak of Visceral leishmaniasis, also known as Kala-azar, in parts of Southern Sudan, say health officials.

Some 6,363 Kala-azar cases and 303 deaths have been reported since the outbreaks began in September 2009, according to a UN World Health Organization (WHO) update from 8 October. The caseload is six times higher than the number reported over a similar period in 2007 (758) and 2008 (582), with a spike in cases being recorded during the May-September rainy season when normally fewer cases are experienced.

?Kala-azar outbreaks occur in a cyclical pattern, and to understand factors contributing to the upsurge of cases one needs to undertake a thorough epidemic investigation and assessment,? Abdinasir Abubakar, a medical officer with WHO?s communicable disease surveillance and response team in Southern Sudan, told IRIN.

?Nonetheless, some of the possible factors that may contribute to the rise in cases [include] a high level of malnutrition, which may negatively impact on the body?s immunity, a predisposition to infection and subsequent progression to disease development, and severity of the disease.? Most of those affected are malnourished children.

?The affected areas have experienced food insecurity due to failed crops and prolonged flooding,? Abubakar noted.

?Hundreds of people who would have been taking in a harvest of sorghum and groundnuts - now ruined, along with their homes - are instead camping by the roadside,? commented the International Rescue Committee recently on the flooding situation.

As well as several locations in Jonglei state, the most affected areas include Malakal and Baliet in Upper Nile State, while sporadic cases have been reported in Unity and Eastern Equatoria states.

Kala-azar is caused by parasitic protozoa transmitted by the bite of an infected female sand fly. Sand flies thrive in the cracks and crevices of mud-plastered houses, cow dung heaps, rat burrows and in vegetation around the houses. Infection leads to lowered immunity, persistent fever, anaemia, liver and spleen enlargement and loss of weight. It kills if left untreated.

Ongoing interventions include case management and laboratory diagnostics for Kala-azar, capacity building among health workers and community awareness. Nutritional support is also being provided to Kala-azar patients and their families and monitoring and evaluation of the outbreak situation is continuing. The distribution of mosquito nets to affected communities is also being carried out for prevention.

According to WHO, increased funding is required to sustain such interventions.

The Ministry of Health warned that the outbreak could deteriorate until April 2011, with insecurity, flooding and the lack of health facilities limiting access to treatment. Kala-azar treatment involves daily injections of sodium stibogluconate for a month so patients have to be near medical centres.

?Increased population movement to and from endemic areas, particularly [the] low-immune population, or environmental conditions favouring the multiplication and biting behaviour of the sand fly, could exacerbate the outbreak,? said WHO?s Abubakar.

aw/mw

Theme(s): Health & Nutrition,

http://newsite.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=90788

 

[tetano]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 300 people in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 300 people in Jonglei state

An outbreak of a parasitic tropical disease has killed more than 300 people in Southern Sudan and the worst of the health crisis is yet to come, officials said today.

The World Health Organisation said the outbreak of kala azar began in September 2009 and has intensified in recent months.


Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/tr...0-in-southern-sudan-481386.html#ixzz14yRGbacx

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 300 people in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 300 people in Jonglei state

A thousand Kala-azar cases reported in Fanjak County
Thursday, 09 December 2010 18:19 Health

The commissioner of Fanjak county in Jonglei state, James Maluit Ruach, has told Radio Miraya that about one thousand people have been infected with Kala-azar disease in the County since October 2010.

Ruach urged the state Government and Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) to intervene as there are only three NGOs taking care of the Primary Health Care Centers in the area.

Meanwhile, the director of tropical endemic diseases in southern Sudan, Mounir Lugga, told Radio Miraya that over one hundred cases have been reported per week in Fanjak. Lugga said that GoSS ministry of health sent six doctors and Nurses to Fanjak when they received reports of increase of Kala-azar cases in the county.

http://mirayafm.org/index.php?optio...orted-in-fanjak-county&catid=87:87&Itemid=282

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 300 people in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 300 people in Jonglei state

Southern Sudan Battles Worst Kala Azar Outbreak in Eight Years, MSF Says

<CITE class=byline>By Lena Lee and Matt Richmond -<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>document.write(dateFormat(new Date(1292590124000),"mmm d, yyyy h:MM TT Z"));</SCRIPT> Dec 17, 2010 6:48 AM CT <NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT></CITE>

Southern Sudan is battling to contain the biggest outbreak of the kala azar disease in the region in eight years as it moves toward a Jan. 9 referendum on independence, Medecins Sans Frontieres said.
...

Kala azar is a tropical disease contracted through the bite of a parasite-carrying sandfly and is endemic in Southern Sudan, the group said. Symptoms include an enlarged spleen, fever and weakness. The return of thousands of southerners before the referendum has worsened the outbreak, according to Moses Chol Maper, an emergency coordinator with MSF in Southern Sudan.
...

The worst outbreaks have been in Unity, Jonglei and Upper Nile states, which are near the border with the north and are receiving large numbers of returnees, Maper said.

Full text:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-...la-azar-outbreak-in-eight-years-msf-says.html

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 300 people in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak kills more than 300 people in Jonglei state

...

The ongoing visceral leishmaniasis outbreak, which was first reported in September 2009, has especially affected remote and insecure parts of Jonglei and Upper Nile states, said Abubakar. By the end of November, some 9,885 new cases with 384 deaths had been reported from 17 treatment centres in four states, with most cases being children under 17. Some 6,363 cases and 303 deaths had been reported by early October.

...
Sudan: Visceral Leishmaniasis Outbreak Adds to Returnees' Woes
30 December 2010

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://allafrica.com/stories/201012310256.html

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak toll 384 in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak toll 384 in Jonglei state

Health Check: Black fever outbreak in Sudan
Advertisement11 March 2011 Last updated at 06:24 ET

The worst outbreak of "black fever" in nearly a decade has hit Southern Sudan. Unless it's treated, Kala Azar - also known as visceral leishmaniasis - kills nearly all of those infected. The World Health Organisation estimates there are up to 500,000 new cases every year.

...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12707330

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak toll 384 in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak toll 384 in Jonglei state

Kala-azar kills twenty in Jonglei State
Sunday, 11 September 2011 18:43 Health >>> .At least twenty people in Jonglei State have died of Kala-azar over the past two months.


The Commissioner of Fangak County in Jonglei State, James Maluit Ruach, said a recent health survey found that about 1,000 people in the state are suffering from Kala-azar.


Ruach said on Sunday that many have been admitted to Old Fangak Civil Hospital.

http://www.radiomiraya.org/index.ph...s-twenty-in-jonglei-state&catid=87&Itemid=282

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak toll 400+ in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak toll 400+ in Jonglei state

Kala-azar patients appeal for assistance
Sunday, 02 October 2011 19:06 Health >>> .Patients at Kala-azar treatment center in Jonglei State are in urgent need of food and shelter, the commissioner of Ayod County, in Jonglei State, James Thoi Ruai, has said.


Thoi said that more than 500 patients suffering from Kala-azar are on the verge of starvation.

The commissioner says that the center was destroyed and food items looted following an attack on the center by forces loyal to renegade General George Athor.

...
http://www.radiomiraya.org/index.ph...ts-appeal-for-assistance-&catid=87&Itemid=282

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak toll 400+ in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak toll 400+ in Jonglei state

28 Oct 2011
South Sudan (Republic of)Deadly outbreak of kala-azar disease continues in South Sudan, UN agency says
Report?UN News Service 28 October 2011 ? At least 720 people have died in South Sudan from a protracted outbreak of visceral leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease, and the number of deaths could be much higher, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.

WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva that more than 18,000 cases of the disease have been recorded in South Sudan since the outbreak emerged in September 2009, with children mostly affected.

The outbreak has since spread to other areas of the newly independent country, and the number of new cases so far this year is a third higher than the equivalent figures from last year, he added.

WHO is working with national health authorities to reduce the number of deaths in the outbreak, in part by increasing the number of health-care facilities providing treatment for the tropical disease.

Visceral leishmaniasis occurs in three clinical forms, and the current outbreak in South Sudan involves kala-azar, the most serious form.

Kala-azar, which is transmitted by the bite of sandflies, can cause death by attacking a person?s internal organs and bone marrow and has a mortality rate of 95 per cent if it is not treated.

Daniel Dagne, a medical officer for WHO, said the number of deaths from the outbreak was likely to be under-reported in South Sudan, which has little infrastructure and numerous remote communities.
http://reliefweb.int/node/456032

 

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak toll 400+ in Jonglei state

Re: Sudan: Kala-azar outbreak toll 400+ in Jonglei state

Via relief web; http://reliefweb.int/node/462086

Kala-azar disease kills 27 people in Unity state
Report?Sudan Tribune By Bonifacio Taban Kuich

November 29, 2011 (BENTIU) - Unity state?s health ministry said Friday that an outbreak of Kala-azar disease had killed 27 people in Koch and Mayiandit counties.

Health officials say that the disease spread from neighbouring Jonglei state, which had an outbreak in January.

Koch county?s Leer Hospital - the only health centre in the state that can treat the disease - has diagnosed over 100 cases officials told Sudan Tribune.

Dr. Manong Thot Teny director general of ministry of health in Unity state said that cases were on the rise, particularly in Koch county.
...

http://www.sudantribune.com/Kala-azar-disease-kills-27-people,40854