Afghanistan - An outbreak of a disease caused by a tropical mosquito bites taken by disfiguring skin sores due to leave Afghanistan, with tens of thousands of people already infected, health officials said Friday.
cutaneous leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease transmitted by female phlebotomine sand fly - an insect 2-3 mm long, the blood of humans or animals may therefore require their eggs. To be treated with drugs and life threatening, can leave serious scars of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the bodies of the victims.
The disease threatens 13 million people in Afghanistan, said the World Health Organization and many poor Afghan victims can not afford medical treatment.
In Kabul - by WHO as the world capital of cutaneous leishmaniasis is described - the number of cases rose from about 17,000 a year at the beginning of 2000 to 65,000 in 2009, according to WHO.
Most victims are women and children. WHO women and children are vulnerable because they often live in the house at night, where the sand flies bite preferred, and therefore are more vulnerable than men, usually away from home.
Peter Graaff, WHO representative in Afghanistan, the Associated Press said Friday that the stigma and shame attached, disfiguring disease is unknown and the number of infected people is probably much higher.
"This song is probably the tip of an iceberg of unreported cases maximum," said De Graaf.
An outbreak in a small town in the western province of Herat district Kohs 63 people have been infected since August, Graaff said.
The cause of the outbreak was unknown, and a WHO team sent to investigate, he said.
The proliferation of sand flies from June to September. They thrive in unsanitary conditions, such as mountains of waste and debris, even to protect against mosquito bites. As the disfiguring lesions are larger, suffering and social stigma.
"The high cost of treatment makes it difficult to integrate anti-leishmaniasis," said Dr. Suraya Dalil, Vice Minister of Health. "I urge donors to this cause to be taken seriously, because it results in unnecessary suffering to a large number of Afghans."
According to WHO, 12 million worldwide are infected with the disease of about 1 to 2 million new cases each year.