Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Visceral leishmaniasis epidemiology and demographics
Introduction
Epidemiology and Demographics
Epidemiology and Demographics
The disease is endemic in West Bengal,India where it was first discovered, but is seen at its most deadly in north and east Africa. It can also be found throughout the Arab world and southern Europe, and a slightly different strain of the pathogen, L. chagasi, is responsible for leishmaniasis in the new world.
But, while the disease’s geographical range is broad, it is not continuous. The disease clusters around areas of drought, famine, and high population density. In Africa, this has meant a knot of infection centers mostly in Sudan, Kenya, and Somalia. Living conditions here have changed very little in the past century, and the people are not normally very mobile. Parts of the Sudan, in particular the Upper Nile region, are almost totally cut off from the rest of the country, and the people are as tied to the place of their birth as any peasant of Europe’s dark ages.[1]
References
References
- ↑ Jean, Francois (1995). “Sudan: Speak no Evil, Do no Good”. Life, Death and Aid: The Medicins Sans Frontieres Report on World Crisis Intervention.
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]