2,000 infected with kala-azar in North Darfur
A medical officer reported that there are 2,160 patients infected with the kala-azar disease among the displaced people in Zam Zam camp in El Fasher, North Darfur. 1,500 of these patients are infected with skin kala-azar, and 660 with membrane kala-azar, which is “a killer” according to the medical officer. He said that the costs of treatment per patient amounted to SDG600 ($ 100). No cure or health care has been established by the Sudanese government or humanitarian organizations for kala-azar since the disease emerged in 2009.There also is no commercial clinic in El Fasher treating patients carrying this parasitic disease, the officer noted. Ring worm, malaria, diarrhoea, typhoid Meanwhile, residents of Zam Zam complain about the spread of ring worm, especially among the middle school students, as well as malaria, diarrhoea, and typhoid. Around 40,000 pupils and students live in the Zam Zam camp. One out of every three students is infected with ring worm. The medical officer appealed to authorities and organizations working in the field of environmental sanitation to intervene and provide medicines and health care. Kala azar in South Sudan The kala-azar disease keeps coming back. Displaced people in Zam Zam have been a victim of the virus, which is transmitted by the bite of a sand fly, in January 2013.And now it is on the rise in the northern Jonglei and Upper Nile states of South Sudan, according to a medical report of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).The number of patients being treated for the ‘black fever’ is even higher than the last major peak of 2010. Without treatment, nearly all patients die. “In the past three months we have treated many children, most of whom are malnourished. We are also treating adults.Our main concern is that most patients are arriving late to the clinic, especially those coming from far away locations,” says Alison Buchanan of MSF. File photo: MSF nurse treats a patient with kala azar in Jonglei (MSF)Related: Kala-azar found amongst children at Zam Zam camp (15 January 2013)
A medical officer reported that there are 2,160 patients infected with the kala-azar disease among the displaced people in Zam Zam camp in El Fasher, North Darfur.
1,500 of these patients are infected with skin kala-azar, and 660 with membrane kala-azar, which is “a killer” according to the medical officer.
He said that the costs of treatment per patient amounted to SDG600 ($ 100). No cure or health care has been established by the Sudanese government or humanitarian organizations for kala-azar since the disease emerged in 2009.
There also is no commercial clinic in El Fasher treating patients carrying this parasitic disease, the officer noted.
Ring worm, malaria, diarrhoea, typhoid
Meanwhile, residents of Zam Zam complain about the spread of ring worm, especially among the middle school students, as well as malaria, diarrhoea, and typhoid.
Around 40,000 pupils and students live in the Zam Zam camp. One out of every three students is infected with ring worm.
The medical officer appealed to authorities and organizations working in the field of environmental sanitation to intervene and provide medicines and health care.
Kala azar in South Sudan
The kala-azar disease keeps coming back. Displaced people in Zam Zam have been a victim of the virus, which is transmitted by the bite of a sand fly, in January 2013.
And now it is on the rise in the northern Jonglei and Upper Nile states of South Sudan, according to a medical report of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
The number of patients being treated for the ‘black fever’ is even higher than the last major peak of 2010. Without treatment, nearly all patients die.
“In the past three months we have treated many children, most of whom are malnourished. We are also treating adults.
Our main concern is that most patients are arriving late to the clinic, especially those coming from far away locations,” says Alison Buchanan of MSF.
File photo: MSF nurse treats a patient with kala azar in Jonglei (MSF)
Related: Kala-azar found amongst children at Zam Zam camp (15 January 2013)
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