ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: A disfiguring contagious skin disease, known as Lieshmaniasis, has affected thousands of people in Sindh and the NWFP for which no cure is available in Pakistan, says World Health Organization.

According to the WHO, the disease has affected more than 5,000 persons in the NWFP and the results of a survey to ascertain the magnitude of the disease in some districts of Sindh is awaited.

Injection Glucantime, the drug used for treating the disease is neither available nor registered in Pakistan, a WHO official said.

Sources said the provincial health authorities first notified the WHO about the disease in a number of villages of Kurram Agency in November 2001.

According to source, the UNHCR had shifted a large number of refugees, affected by the disease, from Kabul to the NWFP tribal areas including the Kurram Agency after Sept 11.

Those settled in Balochistan arrived mostly from Kandahar and the adjoining regions, have not been affected, a source said.

In reply to a question about the steps being taken to control the disease, the WHO spokesperson, Lorreta Heibert, said the UN health agency has ordered 7,000 doses of medicine to treat the disease.

The medicine would arrive next week and would be sufficient to treat half of the affected population in the NWFP. Additional supplies would reach Pakistan soon, she said.

Lieshmaniasis is caused by a parasite and is transmitted by “sand fly”. When it bites the skin, the parasite is transmitted to the blood. The type of Lieshmaniasis found in Pakistani population, called Urban or Anthroponotic Lieshmaniasis, is transmitted from humans to humans.

Cutaneous Lieshmaniasis can cause a lesion anywhere on the body but the most likely sites for these lesions are the exposed parts. The lesion rapidly gives rise to a harsh-looking large ulcer which frequently eats the tissue, and even when the ulcer heals it leads to permanent disfigurement.

According to sources, very few physicians are able to differentiate between Lieshmaniasis and other skin diseases that may mimic the skin lesions of Lieshmaniasis.

Health officials said in the absence of specific medicines alternate medicines, including preventive measures similar to those taken against malaria, should be exercised.

Residual insecticide spray, improved environmental and impregnated nets, are effective means of precaution.

The WHO, provincial health authorities in Sindh and the NWFP, UNHCR, and the federal government are taking steps to control the disease.