Rare disease kills 159
2005-07-05 14:59
Addis Ababa - A rare and deadly parasitic disease has killed 159 people since late last year during an outbreak in northern Ethiopia, an international aid agency said on Tuesday.
A doctor from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said the majority of deaths from kala azar, which is transmitted by an infected female sand fly, have been among children under the age of 12.
"We are still diagnosing new cases," said Ioanna Pertsinibou. "If not treated the sick will die in a few months."
Kala azar, also called visceral leishmaniasis, is almost always fatal if left untreated. People who survive the disease are often left with severe scarring. The outbreak is in the town of Bura, 650km north of Addis Ababa, an area previously unaffected by the disease.
Getting to the root of the problem
"We need to establish the real extent of the disease," Pertsinibou said. "We need to establish how the outbreak occurred here.
Doctors started providing treatment in May once the first positive diagnosis of the disease was made. Since then nine people have died and hundreds have been treated.
The first suspect deaths occurred late last year. At the peak of the epidemic, two to three people were dying every day, community leaders told the agency, also known as Doctors Without Borders.
Around 500 000 new cases appear every year in the world, but according to the World Health Organisation, there has been a sharp increase in the disease in the last decade.
Around 90% of the cases occur in Bangladesh, India, Brazil, Nepal and Sudan.
The parasite attacks the immune system of the infected person causing high fever, swelling of the spleen and serious weight loss. Treatment involves a 30-day course of injections but medical help has been complicated because many of the patients are extremely malnourished, Pertsinibou added.
- AP