Published: April 05, 2011
Servant's Heart Relief Labors to Contain Outbreak of Kala-azar in South Sudan
SAN FRANCISCO - (BUSINESS WIRE) - South
Sudan is facing the worst outbreak of Kala-azar in the past 10 years
as health workers from Servant's
Heart Relief (http://servantsheartrelief.org)
race against the clock to stop the spread of the deadly disease.
Kala-azar infected young boy. (Photo: Business Wire)
Also known as visceral leishmaniasis, leishmania infection, Black Death,
black fever, or Dumdum fever, Kala-azar is a chronic and typically fatal
disease that attacks the liver, spleen, lymph nodes and bone marrow.
External symptoms of Kala-azar include sores on the body, fever,
inflamed spleen, abdominal pain, headaches, and joint pain.
The disease is spread by sand fly bites that infect the bitten with a
parasite called Leishmania donovani. South Sudan is currently facing one
of its worst dry seasons in a decade, leading to higher than normal
populations of sand flies, which are smaller than mosquitoes, and very
difficult to detect or see.
Currently there is no vaccine for prevention of the disease. The only
prevention is "do not get bitten by a sand fly" .
Left untreated, more than 95% of people infected with Kala-azar die
within two to three months.
More than 300 confirmed cases
South Sudan is the world's newest country, and is expected to gain
independence from Sudan in July 2011. In the regions of South Sudan that
Servant's Heart Relief serves medically, more than 300 people have been
confirmed to have the Kala-azar infection, with an additional seven to
ten new cases being confirmed each day. Approximately 30% of the
identified patients are pregnant women or malnourished children. Regions
being served by other relief groups are reporting similar findings.
"Kala-azar is highly contagious and each untreated person can infect up
to a dozen others," said Christopher Plante, Board Secretary, Servant's
Heart Relief. "There is a time lag of three to five days between
infection and the appearance of symptoms, so an infected person can
infect others before realizing they have contracted the disease. At the
current rate, the number of infections is expected to double in less
than two weeks, which means we are in a desperate race to prevent an
outbreak of exponential proportions."
Treatment
Servant's Heart Relief has established two Primary Health Care Centers
(PHCC) to treat Kala-azar patients. In addition, Servant's Heart Relief
health workers travel throughout the region to diagnose and treat
patients who are unlikely to know they have the disease until they are
too sick to travel by foot to the PHCCs.
There is currently no vaccine to prevent infection of Kala-azar. The
standard treatment for Kala-azar is for 3 injections of Sodium
Stibogluconate (SSG), administered over the course of 3 days. SSG
injections, however, can be fatal for pregnant women and malnourished
children, so these individuals are treated with an IV drug over 15 days.
The Government of South Sudan Ministry of Health has provided the SSG
medication, but Servant's Heart Relief has had to purchase the syringes
to administer the treatments. Additionally, Servant's Heart Relief is
hopeful that the Ministry of Health will be able to provide the IV
medication in the next several days. However, Servant's Heart Relief
must purchase the related IV tubing and IV bags of saline. Servant's
Heart Relief has already purchased the IV needles with its own funds.
With early diagnosis and treatment, the survival rate for Kala-azar is
over 90%. "It is the lack of emergency funds that are hampering our
efforts to address the logistics, treatment and transport for remote
patients," Mr. Plante said.
Emergency funds requested
Servant's Heart Relief is in need of at least $75,000 to help contain
the Kala-azar outbreak and treat the infected patients.
The special funding will help purchase additional medical supplies that
are directly related to the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The
funds will also cover the costs of hiring additional health workers to
assist in the diagnosis and treatment, and the costs of transporting
medicines and personnel to key treatment locations throughout the region.
If Servant's Heart Relief is able to raise more than $75,000, these
vital funds will be used to purchase chemically-treated bed nets, and to
spray areas around huts and medical clinics.
Donations to help fight the Kala-azar outbreak can be made via Paypal
through the Servant's Heart Relief website at http://servantsheartrelief.org/support/donations/don/products.php?product=Donations.
About Servant's Heart Relief
Servant's Heart Relief (http://servantsheartrelief.org)
is a faith-based organization that has worked in war-torn South
Sudan and East Africa for more than 13 years. Our mandate is to serve
as Christ served by addressing the community's immediate relief and
developmental needs of spiritual growth, educational programs, public
health and primary medical care, including support for agricultural and
economic infrastructure.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6671505&lang=en
Servant's Heart Relief
Christopher Plante, 415-810-1820
Board
Secretary
chris@servantsheartrelief.org
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