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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| In northern Syria skin disease ravages young and old | |
| 2019-04-26 | |
| [Rudaw] Leishmaniasis is a skin disease caused by a microscopic parasite spread by sandflies. The illness is endemic to Syria, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says, but has become more prevalent during the eight-year civil war. The number of leishmaniasis cases in Syria doubled from 2010 to 2018 to more than 80,000 patients, WHO says. Many were in northern and northeastern areas rocked in recent years by festivities to expel the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group. Leishmaniasis is usually linked to poverty, poor sanitation, and malnutrition, WHO says, factors likely compounded by the war. Across Karama, insects hover over piles of rubbish between rows of modest houses, some still bearing scars of battles that resulted in Kurdish-led forces kicking IS out in 2017. Younes al-Naeemi, the manager of the Karama health centre, says the clinic has received 4,000 cases of leishmaniasis from the town and surrounding villages since April last year. "Marshes, humidity, the house's proximity to farming land, as well as widespread rubbish" have fuelled the spread of the skin condition, he says. ‘NOBODY CARES' After a peak of almost 6,800 cases in Raqqa province last year, WHO says there has been a decline in cases at the start of this year. The international organization has distributed mosquito nets, provided medicine to treat the disease, and supports six health centres in Raqqa, including in Karama. But it warns the rates could again rise as the weather becomes warmer. "Sandfly breeding usually peaks when the temperature starts to rise in spring and summer," WHO front man Yahya Bouzo said. "Unless prevention measures are taken, the number of cases is expected to" increase. But Karama's residents say their rural town is neglected. They complain of a lack of services including regular trash pick-ups.
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| Posted by:trailing wife |