( ohar and East and West Champaran distri...)Kalaazar sweeping through Bihar, 93 dead,Health

ohar and East and West Champaran districts.

H.N. Srivastav, deputy director of health, Tirhut division, in his Dec 18 report said that 93 people had died of the disease in October and November. The report said that 9,666 infections were identified in the region during the months.

‘In October, 9,011 patients and in November, 655 were identified with kalaazar. In October 90 people suffering from kalaazar died and only three died in November,’ the report said.

Ironically, most of the kalaazar deaths were reported from Muzaffarpur and Vaishali districts - 29 died in Muzaffarpur and 35 in Vaishali. Of the rest, 17 were reported from in East Champaran, nine in Sitamarhi, two in West Champaran and one in Sheohar.

According to former central health minister C.P. Thakur, an expert on the disease, more than 50,000 people are suffering from the disease.

Bihar last faced a kalaazar epidemic in 1991 when 250,000 cases were reported. In 2000, the numbers were low but it has been on the rise since 2003.

A new ray of hope to check the spread of kalaazar has come out with the Institute for OneWorld Health, a non-profit pharmaceutical company, announcing an affordable treatment for the disease.

Kalaazar - medically known as Visceral Leishmaniasis - is the second-largest parasitic killer in the world after malaria. The parasite attacks the bone marrow and weakens the immune system leading to increased vulnerability to infections and diseases.

The disease occurs in 62 countries, primarily in the developing world. Around 90 percent of world cases are found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and northeast Brazil. Experts say over 60 percent of the cases in India are found in Bihar alone.

Source-IANS
SM
'"/>




Page: 1 2
Related medicine news :

1. Bihar to Wipe Out Kalaazar by 2010
2. Sperm washing helps couples – Breakthrough in focu
3. ZD1839 Proves Effective - A Breakthrough in fighting Lung Cancer
4. Altering genes through calories
5. Glenmark’s new molecule to go through trial
6. Gel pares inflammatory activity throughout body
7. Breakthrough in eye treatment
8. Patients with testicular cancer dying through unfamiliarity
9. Approaching through Telemedicine benefits patients
10. Heart failure protection through gene therapy
11. COPD patients can benefit through intense training