West Bengal: Kala-azar (was: Mystery illness kills 17)

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http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=330739&catid=42

Mystery disease triggers panic
10 June 2010

Statesman News Service
BOLPUR, 10 JUNE: Tension ran high in a tribal village ~ Golamighat in Bolpur Sriniketan block, after two children died of an ?unknown fever? in the past five days. Another 17 people have also succumbed to the fever in a year, villagers here claimed.
Dozens of villagers are suffering from this disease and one of them was admitted to the Bolpur SD hospital last night. A section of health officials claimed that the symptoms of the patient indicated the century-old disease ~ kala-azar. A rapid response medical team rushed to the village today.
According to reports, the villagers of Golamighat, mainly children between 5-11, have been suffering from this unknown fever for the past three years. Sonababu Muddy (7) died of unknown fever last Sunday. Fear has gripped the tribal villagers after another child ~ Somai Muddy (7) ~ died of the same unknown fever this morning after undergoing treatment for a month at the Bolpur SD hospital. The district health authorities sent a medical team to find out the nature of the disease, but they have failed to do it.
?We have noticed that villagers, mainly children, are complaining of fever along with aches in their whole body. Later, the patients? skin colour changes with black patches appearing all over the body. We are yet to find out the nature of the disease so far, but the symptoms are suspected to be those of kala-azar,? said a senior district health official.
Villagers are fleeing their homes and have accused the health department of not taking any initiative to protect them from this fever.
?The villagers have been suffering from this mysterious disease for the past three years and nearly 17 people have died. Surprisingly, the health department did not take the matter seriously. As there was no proper treatment, several families have left this village already,? said Mr Abdul Halim, secretary, Bahiri-Panchsua gram panchayat.
?I have been suffering from this disease for the past 25 days. Several black spots have appeared all over my body and there is pain in the joints. Several villagers have succumbed to this fever,? said Mr Ratan Hansda, a villager of Golamighat.
Meanwhile, assistant chief medical officer of health (ACMOH), Bolpur, Dr Jayanta Sukul, admitted: ?We have sent a rapid response team to the village to collect blood samples from the affected people, which will be tested through RK39 test kit. We can confirm the disease only after the reports of the tests come.? Comments (0)

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Mystery illness kills 17 - probable kala-azar

Kala-azar outbreak in West Bengal district

2010-06-13 18:30:00


Outbreak of kala-azar, a centuries-old disease, in two tribal villages near Bolpur in West Bengal's Birbhum district has thrown health officials into a tizzy.

The outbreak came to light after the district health authorities were informed of the death of two children who had a mysterious fever a few days back.


Six people of Golamighat and Sirishdanga villages in a remote corner of Bolpur block were found positive for kala-azar after blood tests, Birbhum's chief medical officer of health Ashis Mallik said.


A medical team has been sent to the area to spread awareness among the tribals about the disease, Mallik said.


'All arrangements have been made to treat the villagers. Our medical staff are collecting blood samples from the villagers regularly for early detection of the disease,' the officer said.


All the six affected people have been admitted to Bolpur sub-division hospital.


A team of health staff will be sent to the villages to spray disinfectants.


Kala-azar is a chronic and potentially fatal parasitic disease of the internal organs, particularly the liver, spleen, bone marrow and lymph nodes, due to infection by a parasite called Leishmania donovani, transmitted by sandfly bites.

http://sify.com/news/kala-azar-outbreak-in-west-bengal-district-news-health-kgns4dbheba.html

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Mystery illness kills 17 - probable kala-azar

Kala-azar: Trinamool docs in Birbhum

Express News Service
Posted: Jun 14, 2010 at 0317 hrs IST


Kolkata Under instructions of party chief Mamata Banerjee, a team of doctors from the All India Trinamool Congress Doctors? Cell (AITMCDC) led by Sudipto Roy, visited Golamighata village of Birbhum district, where two children died because of kala-azar past week.
?Our team collected blood samples,? said Nirmal Majhi, chairman of AITMCDC. ?Five people turned out to be kala-azar positive. We have contacted their families so that they can come to Kolkata and get themselves treated at the School of Tropical Medicines.?

According to local sources, around 40 people died in the last two years due to kala-azar. Seven of them, some of them children, died in the last two months. But the health department, they allege, never take the deaths seriously, dismissing them as results of anaemia and high fever.

The deaths of Babushona Mandi (7) and Shonai Mandi (7) on June 6 and June 10, however, stirred the locals into protest and forced the district health department to take action.

Dismissing the reports of 40 kala-azar deaths, the Chief Medical Officer (Health) of Birbhum, Ashish Mallick, however, admitted that in a recent door-to-door blood sample collection conducted by the health department, six people from Golamighata were found kala-azar positive.

?It is alarming that six people from one village alone have been suffering from this deadly disease,? he said. ?But, we have adequate doctors and there is no need to set up any special unit for this.?

Among the kala-azar patients, there is 19-year old Sunil Tudu, whose father, aunt and sister had died suffering in the disease in the last six months. ?We have no evidence that these deaths were kala-azar deaths, they might have been normal fever cases or something else. There is nothing to bother about,? the CMOH said.

Majhi said the sanitary condition of the area is pathetic. ?We have found that almost 60 per cent children of Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore suffer from severe anaemia.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/kalaazar-trinamool-docs-in-birbhum/633446/