45 Kala-azar Patients Spotted in Sarlahi Pocket

A team of the Epidemology and Disease Control Division has spotted 45 kala-azar patients in Taiwan area of the district. This is the first time such a large number of kala-azar patients were found in a specific location.

The team was dispatched following a news report on kala-azar outbreak in Hariwan in The Himalayan Times on April 18.

According to Rambilas Mahato, a malaria inspector at the district public health office, kala-azar virus was detected in blood samples of 45 persons until on Wednesday. The K-39 method was used for conducting the blood test, he said, adding that there is a chance of finding more persons infected with the disease.

Sandfly, which transmits the disease, survives in dark and cold places especially in nooks and corners of houses and cowsheds, public health nurse Laxmi Shrestha said, adding: "The insect cannot fly but is able to leap forward and one-fourth the size of a mosquito and remains active between dusk and 1:00 am."

Shrestha said a campaign has been launched in the Taiwan area to spray insecticide to kill sandflies.

"Those found with the disease are the persons who could not afford to get treatement and some 10 persons from the same location have already had their disease cured," said former chairman of the Hariwan VDC, Dilli Prasad Upreti.

Director of the EDCD Garibdas Thakur, who had visited the area, has instructed the officials here to run a camp for treating kala-azar patients, said assistant health worker of the area health post Sasapur Amit Prasad Gautam.

A volunteer at the Taiwan area Radhika Katuwal said 50-year-old Gyan Bahadur Magar of Katuwal area died yesterday after he failed to receive medical treatment.

The Child Welfare Organisation data reveal that altogether nine persons have died of kala-azar in the last six months, said a volunteer at the organisation Anita Bhujel.