Three cases of leishmaniasis detected in Tafileh

AMMAN — Three cases of leishmaniasis have been detected in Tafileh Governorate’s Barbeita area and are currently being treated, the Health Ministry said Monday, as officials plan to prevent further spread of the skin disease. 

Health Minister Mahmoud Sheyyab instructed Tafileh and Karak health directors and the director of Karak Hospital to include dermatologists on the teams tasked with monitoring and following up on leishmaniasis cases in Barbeita and Jisr Al Shohadaa areas, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The ministry’s spokesperson, Hatem Azrui, said the concerned health authorities have coordinated among each other and agreed to have a dermatologist follow up on the patients at a health centre in Barbeita, some 30km north of Tafileh, instead of having the patients check with Karak Hospital, in order to make it easier for them to access medical care near their place of residence. 

An epidemiological surveillance team from the parasitic diseases directorate and the Tafileh health directorate conducted a field visit to the area last Thursday, Azrui said, adding that the inspection measures include locating flies or rat colonies that carry the disease.

The team found the three cases and found sand rats in various areas they visited but did not find sand flies in all the areas because of the cold weather. 

The team will work to combat the pathogens and parasites and their carriers in the area before the infection season begins, Petra reported. 

Leishmaniasis is caused by infection with Leishmania parasites, which are spread by the bite of phlebotomine sand flies, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. 

There are several different forms of leishmaniasis in people. 

The most common forms are coetaneous leishmaniasis, which causes skin sores, and visceral leishmaniasis, which affects several internal organs (usually spleen, liver and bone marrow), the US agency says on its website.