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LARKANA, April 23: At least 35 villages of Larkana district and 23 villages of Dadu district had been affected by the skin disease, leishmaniasis.
This was disclosed by the experts from Geneva, Cairo and Islamabad at a meeting held here on Tuesday.
They discussed the spread and control of skin disease leishmaniasis, with reference to its eruption in the world, after visiting the affected areas.
The team members, Dr Riadh Ben Ismail, Dr Abraham Mnzava from the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) in Cairo, Dr P. Desjaux from WHO Headquarters, Dr Arif Munir, Malaria Control, Pakistan, Dr Faziullah Kakar, WHO epidemiologist, shared their experiences with the senior doctors from Larkana, Dadu, Jacobabad and Hyderabad.
The experts said that leishmaniasis travelled down right from Khurram Agency in 1960 and hit Larkana and Dadu districts in 2001.
Leishmaniasis had affected Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Sibi, Lorali and Multan in different periods.
According to the WHO’s fresh studies, conducted in both the districts, 1013 cases of active lesions were found. The studies disclosed that 92 per cent and 77 per cent active lesions were found in Dadu and Larkana districts respectively.
They said that if estimated on population basis, it stands that 61 per a 1000 population remained affected in Dadu while in Larkana it was recorded at 33 cases per a 1000 population.
They said that the cases of the disease per year in 88 countries, having a population of 350 million, had been estimated at 1.5 million and the prevalence rate was around 12 million.
The experts said that climate changes, urbanization, migration, deforestation, coupled with new settlements, could be the key reasons of the spreading of leishmaniasis.
The cases of skin disease had increased from 61 to 1218 in West Africa within two years, 1996-98, while in Aleppa Syria, the cases had increased tremendously from 1998 to 2000, the experts said.
ACCIDENT: A man was killed and three others were injured in an accident on Larkana-Ratodero road the other day.
Akbar Ali died in the accident while Ms Siyani, Ms Koonj and Hajan Ali, residents of Drakhan town, were injured.
The injured were admitted to the Chandka Medical College Hospital.
Meanwhile, three armed robbers shot dead Deedar Ali Jiskani, a head clerk in the directorate of education, when he refused to hand them over his motorcycle on the Airport Road on the outskirts of the city.
In another incident, Ali Nawaz Brohi committed suicide by taking insecticide in a village near Ratodero.
