Kala-azar disease kills 27 people in Unity state
By Bonifacio Taban Kuich
November 29, 2011 (BENTIU) – Unity state’s health ministry said Friday that an outbreak of Kala-azar disease has killed 27 people in mainly in Koch and Mayiandit counties this year.
Health officials say that the disease spread from neighbouring Jonglei state, which had an outbreak in January.
Koch county’s Leer Hospital – the only health centre in the state that can treat the disease – has diagnosed over 100 cases this week, officials told Sudan Tribune.
Dr. Manong Thot Teny director general of ministry of health in Unity state said that cases were on the rise, particularly in Koch county.
The state ministry of health and the World Health Organization have come to an agreement to train staffs at Koch County Hospital to investigate and treat the disease, which is spread by the bite of female sand flies.
“There is a need of establishment centre in Koch, but they had some challenges that Koch Hospital is very small, and at the end we are still need some support,” said Thot.
The health ministry director said that Medicine Sans Froniter (MSF) is the only organisation with clinics treating cases of Kala-Azar in Leer County. He said that they needed support from other organisations to fight the disease, which causes diarrhea, fever, general body weakness and swelling of some internal organs.
If left untreated, the disease kills around 95% of people who have been infected.
Thot said, they are planning to open a centre in Koch county, as the health centre there was too small to cope with the number of patients.
Unity states health facilities have attracted patients from Jonglei state.
MSF Holland visited Koch County on Tuesday with state health ministry staffs and found that the high rate of detection indicated that civilians were at an increased risk.
Health authorities in Unity state are urging citizens to use mosquito nets as a way to minimize the risk of contracting the disease.
The Kala azar or Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease transmitted through sand fly bites which breed in forest areas, caves, or the burrows of small rodents. It can cause death by attacking a person’s internal organs and bone marrow and has a mortality rate of 95 per cent if it is not treated.
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported that October that the Kala azar killed some 720 people in South Sudan. However, UN officials stress that the real number of victims can be higher than reported.
WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said that more than 18,000 cases of the disease have been recorded in South Sudan since the outbreak emerged in September 2009. Children are the first victims, she underscored.
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Nuerone Mafitabu
Kala-azar disease kills 27 people in Unity state
Let us stop rebellion, so that god will forgive us.
Michael Miyom Minyiel
Kala-azar disease kills 27 people in Unity state
It was in 1989 when the news of the death of my beloved mother was brokered to me through long range radio communication in the now Maban county that she died of kala-azar in Panriang county.
whatsayyou
Kala-azar disease kills 27 people in Unity state
You mr. are you confused the aritcle is not talking about rebellion,it is bias to talk nonsense in the website.
Michael Miyom Minyiel
Kala-azar disease kills 27 people in Unity state
The following year 1990 when I was still in trenches in Maban, I got other news that my elder sister and younger brother lost anather battle to Kala-azar and more of my relatives died of the same disease.
Michael Miyom Minyiel
Kala-azar disease kills 27 people in Unity state
Most of the Kal-azar victims who have been referred from Panriang county to Dwuar hospital in Leer never come back alive as 95% of them killed by Dr.Riek forces simply they were sick Dinkas.let goverment stop Kala-azar now!
Michael Miyom Minyiel
Kala-azar disease kills 27 people in Unity state
The fight for a Kala-azar never be left only to NGOs but govt.to spearhead the fight in reaching out to all the counties in unity state for the control of this HIV/AIDS -like disease.
Let all be the activists in combating the disease to the end.
Dinka Dominated SPLA/M
Kala-azar disease kills 27 people in Unity state
Michael Miyom Minyiel
I am really very sorry with the situation that you said on the website, when i read what you wrote? i cry and hope that you will stay bless as you are the only person left in your family. stay stroge and mighty God will reward you with long life. my heard fell gose to you and hope those who die form this disease are now in heaven.
thanks
Michael Miyom Minyiel
Kala-azar disease kills 27 people in Unity state
Thank you Dinka Dominated SPLA.
It is exactly I that alive but it is God’s making.
In S.Sudan,we have so many problems which need our involvement and solve them.when we talk of the past in the present,they become fresh.my ordeals are bad and others’too.