Bangladesh eliminates visceral leishmaniasis
Nazia Nagi
Abstract
On Oct 31, 2023, WHO announced that Bangladesh has eliminated visceral leishmaniasis (also known as kala-azar) as a public health problem, the first country worldwide to do so. This elimination status was validated by WHO after Bangladesh reported less than 1 cases per 10 000 people in the previous 3 consecutive years. In 2022, Bangladesh reported only 47 kala-azar cases, and the WHO South-East Asia Region reported 1069 cases, the lowest number recorded.
Topics & Concepts
Sodium stibogluconateVisceral leishmaniasisLeishmaniasisMedicineLeishmania donovaniPublic healthTropical diseaseVector (molecular biology)DiseaseEnvironmental healthImmunologyInternal medicinePathologyBiologyBiochemistryGeneRecombinant DNAResearch on Leishmaniasis Studies