Disease spread by sand fleas
arriving in the West with Syrian refugees, Posted by Ann Corcoran, 5/30/16
We have been
following Breitbart
and Michael Patrick Leahy’s investigative series on TB in the refugee flow to
America, but what about cutaneous leishmaniasis? Is is here yet? We
reported on this awful disease here nearly three years ago. One more of those joys of
diversity!
A lesion
(cutaneous leishmaniasis) on a US soldier. One more reason to take care of
America first. Photo: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/220298-clinical
From Al
Arabiya: A disfiguring
tropical disease that had been previously been contained in Syria is now
reportedly spreading across the Middle East as millions are displaced, the Daily
Mail reported on Saturday.
Cutaneous
leishmaniasis, which can lead to severe scarring on the face, is a parasitic
disease spread by bites from infected sand flies. The disease regularly goes
undiagnosed and untreated.
The disease had
been contained in Syria, particularly to regions under ISIS control such as
Raqqa, Deir al-Zour and Hasakah.
The ongoing
Syrian civil war has devastated the country’s medical facilities and along with
the chronic lack of clean water, the situation has created a breeding ground
for sand flies the carry the disease.
“It’s a very bad situation. The disease has
spread dramatically in Syria, but also into countries like Iraq, Lebanon,
Turkey and even into southern Europe with refugees coming in,” Dr. Waleed
Al-Salem, one of researchers on the disease, told the Daily Mail.
Visit our health
issues category where you can find 298 other posts like this one, including the Breitbart series on Tuberculosis in the US
refugee population.
https://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/2016/05/30/disease-spread-by-sand-fleas-arriving-in-the-west-with-syrian-refugees/
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