In a report Saturday out of India, health officials are saying that the Bihar state is suffering with a large amount of cases of Kala Azar in the area, in fact it accounts for 60 percent of all cases of the parasitic disease in the whole country.
Bihar state has seen in excess of 6,300 cases of visceral leishmaniasis and 12 deaths since March.
According to Former Union Health Minister, Dr. C.P. Thakur, "This is the time to act energetically and intensively otherwise it will lead to a big epidemic."
A report in NDTV said the Bihar government promised in 2005 to eliminate Kala Azar by 2010. Instead, what has been seen is an enormous spike in the parasitic disease.
In 2009 there were 21,318 cases of Kala Azar reported from Bihar and in 2010, it rose to 23,084. However, these figures may just be the tip of the iceberg as many cases may be going unreported.
This comes at a time when the Bihar state is also facing many cases of encephalitis caused by a yet unknown microorganism.
Kala-azar is a systemic form of leishmaniasis characterized by a grayish appearance of the body which can result in enlarged spleen and liver, diarrhea, emaciation, weakness and death.
It is caused primarily by the parasite, Leishmania donovani. The vector for this parasite is a phlebotomine sandfly. There are a few different species implicated depending on the part of the world.
Bihar is a state in eastern India. Bihar lies mid-way between West Bengal in the east and Uttar Pradesh in the west. It is bounded by the country of Nepal to the north and by Jharkhand to the south. The Bihar plain is divided into two parts by the river Ganges that flows through the middle from west to east.
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