Pakistan: More than 1,000 people infected with leishmaniasis in Kohat: Report
More than 1,000 people mostly women and children in Barh, Jabbi, and other areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan have contracted leishmaniasis, according to a Pakistani news source recently.
The report notes that the health authorities were keeping quiet over the issue.
Phlebotomus papatasi sand fly–a vector of leishmaniasis
Image/CDC
In addition, it states that medical teams are headed to the area to vaccinate the population; however, there is no vaccination for leishmaniasis.
Leishmaniasis is a disease can range from asymptomatic infections to those causing significant illness and death. Disease can appear on a spectrum from a single skin ulcer to destructive lesions of the face to terminal organ disease.
The vector for this parasite is a phlebotomine sandfly.
Curtaneous leishmaniasis is highly endemic in Pakistan.
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