Kala Azar

• In a significant step forward towards eliminating Kala Azar, India has achieved the target of reporting less than one case per 10,000 population across all blocks in 2023.
• It is the second deadliest parasitic disease after malaria in the country.
• In India, the disease is endemic in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
  • In October 2023, Bangladesh became the first country in the world to be officially validated by the WHO for eliminating Kala Azar as a public health problem.

About Kala Azar (or visceral leishmaniasis)

• It is a protozoan parasitic disease, spread by sandfly bites.
  • Sandflies are brown in colour and have hairs on their bodies. The flies are infected with the parasite called ‘leishmania donovani’.
  • The vector sandfly is known to live in cracks and crevices of muddy houses, especially in dark and humid corners.
• According to the WHO, there are 3 main forms of leishmaniases of which kala-azar is the most serious form.
• Symptoms- It causes fever, weight loss, spleen and liver enlargement.
• Left untreated, it can be fatal in 95% of cases.
• PKDL or Post Kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis, is a well-recognised complication which causes scaly skin patches and nodular lesions in people who have been apparently cured of Kala Azar up to two years of the initial infection.