Open AccessJournal Article
The epidemiology of visceral leishmaniasis in Bangladesh: prospects for improved control.
Caryn Bern,Rajib Chowdhury +1 more
TLDR
Effective control of VL in Bangladesh will require activities to improve availability and access to diagnostic testing and antileishmanial drugs, enhanced surveillance for kala-azar, post-kala-zar dermal leishmaniasis and VL treatment failures, and increased coverage and efficacy of vector control programmes.Abstract:
The parasitic disease kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis, VL) was first described in 1824 in Jessore district, Bengal (now Bangladesh) Epidemic peaks were recorded in Bengal in the 1820s, 1860s, 1920s, and 1940s After achieving good control of the disease during the intensive vector control efforts for malaria in the 1950s-1960s, Bangladesh experienced a VL resurgence that has lasted to the present Surveillance data show an increasing trend in incidence since 1995 Research in recent years has demonstrated the utility of non-invasive diagnostic modalities such as the direct agglutination test and rapid tests based on the immune response to the rK39 antigen In common with its neighbours India and Nepal, VL in Bangladesh is anthroponotic Living in proximity to a kala-azar case is the strongest risk factor for disease, while consistent use of bed nets in the summer months and the presence of cattle are protective Shortages of first-line antileishmanial drugs and insecticide for indoor spraying programmes have hindered VL treatment and vector control efforts Effective control of VL will require activities to improve availability and access to diagnostic testing and antileishmanial drugs, enhanced surveillance for kala-azar, post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis and VL treatment failures, and increased coverage and efficacy of vector control programmesread more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
The Relationship between Leishmaniasis and AIDS: the Second 10 Years
Jorge Alvar,Pilar Aparicio,Abraham Aseffa,Margriet den Boer,Carmen Cañavate,Jean-Pierre Dedet,Luigi Gradoni,Rachel ter Horst,Rogelio López-Vélez,Javier Moreno +9 more
TL;DR: Based on the previous experience of 20 years of coinfection in Europe, this review focuses on the management of Leishmania-HIV-coinfected patients in low-income countries where leishmaniasis is endemic.
Journal ArticleDOI
Complexities of assessing the disease burden attributable to leishmaniasis.
TL;DR: Review of reliable secondary data sources and collection of baseline active survey data are recommended to improve current disease burden estimates, plus the improvement or establishment of effective surveillance systems to monitor the impact of control efforts.
Journal Article
Insect vectors of Leishmania: distribution, physiology and their control.
Umakant Sharma,Sarman Singh +1 more
TL;DR: Insight is given into the insect vectors of human leishmaniasis, their geographical distribution, recent taxonomic classification, habitat, and different control measures including indoor residual spraying (IRS), insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs), environmental management, biological control, and emerging resistance to DDT.
Journal ArticleDOI
Drug Resistance in Visceral Leishmaniasis
TL;DR: Overall, the development of antileishmanials has been generally slow; new drugs are needed to control visceral leishmaniasis worldwide and treatment advances should become affordable in the poorest countries, where they are needed most.
Journal ArticleDOI
Of cattle, sand flies and men: a systematic review of risk factor analyses for South Asian visceral leishmaniasis and implications for elimination.
TL;DR: Carefully designed demonstration projects, taking into account the complex web of interconnected risk factors, are needed to provide direct proof of principle for elimination and to identify the most effective maintenance activities to prevent a rapid resurgence when interventions are scaled back.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Rapid accurate field diagnosis of Indian visceral leishmaniasis
TL;DR: In this paper, a prospective study was conducted to assess the diagnostic usefulness of non-invasive testing for antibody to the leishmanial antigen K39 by means of antigen-impregnated nitrocellulose paper strips adapted for use under field conditions.
Journal ArticleDOI
Risk factors for kala-azar in Bangladesh.
Caryn Bern,Allen W. Hightower,Rajib Chowdhury,Mustakim Ali,Josef Amann,Yukiko Wagatsuma,Rashidul Haque,Katie M. Kurkjian,Louise Vaz,Moarrita Begum,Tangin Akter,Catherine Cetre-Sossah,Indu B. Ahluwalia,Ellen M. Dotson,W. Evan Secor,Robert F. Breiman,James H. Maguire +16 more
TL;DR: Strong clustering is confirmed and it is suggested that insecticide-treated nets could be effective in preventing kala-azar.
Journal ArticleDOI
A comparative study of the effectiveness of diagnostic tests for visceral leishmaniasis.
Marleen Boelaert,Suman Rijal,Sudhir Regmi,Rupa Singh,Balmansingh Karki,D. Jacquet,François Chappuis,Lenea Campino,Philippe Desjeux,Dominique Le Ray,Shekhar Koirala,Patrick Van der Stuyft +11 more
TL;DR: The DAT or the rK39 dipstick test can replace parasitology as the basis of a decision to treat VL in Nepalese peripheral health services.
Journal ArticleDOI
Factors associated with visceral leishmaniasis in Nepal: bed-net use is strongly protective.
Caryn Bern,Anand Y. Joshi,Shambhu Nath Jha,Murari Lal Das,Allen W. Hightower,Garib Das Thakur,Mahendra Bahadur Bista +6 more
TL;DR: A program to increase bed-net usage could therefore decrease the incidence of VL in Nepal and reduce the risk of death from visceral leishmaniasis.
Journal ArticleDOI
Use of the recombinant K39 dipstick test and the direct agglutination test in a setting endemic for visceral leishmaniasis in Nepal.
TL;DR: The wider use of the rK39 dipstick test could improve the specificity of VL diagnosis in Nepal, and has the advantages of ease of use and obtaining results within minutes.