A team of doctors and specialists who are carrying out the study has found one person with kala-azar in Kailali district in the far west, along with sandflies infected with the parasite that causes the disease.
The symptoms of kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis) include high fever, headache, muscle pain and vomiting.
Last year, the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) had received a field report about the outbreak of kala-azar in five districts in the far and mid western development regions. The government sent the report to the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) in Dharan, the only facility in the country that has been carrying out research studies on kala-azar. It has been doing such research for one and a half decades.
As per EDCD’s report, kala-azar cases have been found in Kailali, Doti, Dadeldhura, Surkhet and Palpa districts. Based on last year’s report, a joint team of specialists from EDCD, WHO Nepal and BPKIHS has been carrying out survey and verification work in those districts for the past week.
Six patients of kalaazar found
The team consists of Dr Murarilal Das, Dr Surendra Urab, Dr Narayan Raj Bhattarai and lab technician Ganesh Shah. According to the team, they will spend a month surveying the outbreak of kala-azar in the five districts.
The team has already done a verification study for kala-azar infection in Kailali and is currently carrying out the study in Doti also, it is stated.
The study will focus on identifying the kala-azar parasite in local sandflies and those from elsewhere.
“Kala-azar has infected the eastern and mid Terai and the campaign to eliminate it is also limited to that part of the country,” said Narayan Raj Bhattarai, one of the team members. But infections were also found in the western Terai and hill districts.
He said that the government needs to scale up kala-azar eradication work to the western districts.
During the verification study, the team found a 32-year-old kala-azar patient from Sahajpur VDC-2 in Kailali. They have also found locally sandfly infected with the parasite.
The government and non-government entities have been trying to eliminate kala-azar for years through a campaign in 12 districts bordering India. However, they are yet to curb the spread of the disease.
Low income families are the most affected by kala-azar.
Of late, kala-azar infections are increasing in the hills and also in winter as the temperature levels rise. Higher temperatures are conducive to sandfly growth, it is learnt.
