Dr. Peter Hotez, the Sabin Vaccine Institute president recently published an OpEd about the Leishmaniasis outbreaks in the Middle East. Leishmaniasis, a neglected tropical disease, is a parasitic infection that often infects those living in poverty. Dr. Hotez writes about the impact leishmaniasis is having on individuals-particularly women and children, the reason why it is spreading so vastly in the Middle East, and ways to control the disease.
To read the full article, click here!
By: Alanna Shaikh
Regular readers of my guest posts may be aware of my ongoing terror of leishmaniasis. Since it’s been seen on both Western China and Afghanistan, I figure it’s only a matter of time before it goes endemic in Tajikistan (it’s been seen here, but not in huge numbers) and I end up covered in painful, suppurating sores. Mosquitoes love me, so it only stands to reason that sand flies, the leishmaniasis vector, would also see me as a tasty feast. In fact, I am pretty sure that I was covered in sand fly bites for several weeks last summer.
I have been comforting myself with the fact that there really isn’t very much leishmaniasis in Afghanistan. Kabul reports something in the range of 15,000 cases a year. Even taking into account underreporting, that’s not really a terrifying number for a city the size of Kabul.
Except not any more. The WHO has just reported that last year there were 65,000 cases of leishmaniasis in Kabul. 13 million Afghans are at risk for the disease. That’s a big number. Leishmaniasis-bearing sand flies are probably hurtling across the Tajik-Afghan border in droves as I type this. Well, except that it’s too cold for sand flies right now. And that the disease would probably be carried by infected people who’d then share their blood with the Tajik sand flies, rather than infected fleas being the crossing point.
» Read more: Outbreak of Leishmaniasis in Central Asia?
Great new list of reads to get your week started off right! Today we’re reading about the WHO’s first comprehensive report on NTDs, the risk of the spread of NTDs amongst Afghans as reported by the United Nations, the personal account of an optometrist who worked in developing countries to treat Onchocerciasis, and the need for Africa to target both infectious and non-infectious diseases in order to strengthen his health care system.
WHO: Control Of Neglected Tropical Diseases Is Feasible, World Book News
UN Reports That Millions of Afghans at Risk from Parasitic Disease, Tanya Thomas, MedIndia
Mission trips inspired me to form a not-for-profit eyecare organization, Jordan Kassalow, Optometric Management
“Paradigm Shift” Needed in African Health Care, Experts Say, Zeeshan Ali, All Voices
By: Alanna Shaikh
We all know the obvious effects on neglected tropical diseases. Sickness, death, loss of economic productivity. A drag on the health system and governments in general. But the impact of the NTDs is deeper and more insidious than that – they affect every aspect of life in some developing nations. So, without further ado, I present – four unexpected impacts of the NTDs:
1. Higher Fertility rates
Most of the neglected tropical diseases are hardest on children; kids bear the brunt of the sickness and death that they cause. As a result, parents grow to expect that their children will frequently sicken and occasionally die. So, they have more kids, just to make sure they have some who survive to adulthood. Countries which have endemic NTDs also have higher fertility rates.
Higher rates of fertility, in return, are hard on the health of mothers, children, and families. Which makes them more vulnerable to NTDs. It’s an ugly cycle.
» Read more: Four Unexpected Impacts of NTDs
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