Leishmaniasis – Pakistan

More than 30,000 leishmania cases were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Hospital sources said 400 patients are already registered for the injection for treatment, mostly children are infected.

There is a shortage of injections for treatment. Stock of the District Headquarters Hospital has exhausted for two weeks.

The monsoon season will bring about a rise in leishmaniasis as well as malaria and dengue.

Photo: Leishmania tropica, one of more than 15 species.

Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by parasites and spread by the bite of a certain sandfly. The cutaneous form presents with skin ulcers. Risk factors include poverty, malnutrition, deforestation, and urbanization. Leishmaniasis can be partly prevented by sleeping under nets treated with insecticide and fumigation.

Leishmaniasis occurs in some 98 countries and affects about 2 million people yearly, and causes between 20 and 50 thousand deaths.

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