Around two months after the Nipah outbreak at Sooppikkada in Changaroth grama panchayat in Kozhikode district, a man in the same hamlet has been diagnosed with kala-azar or leishmaniasis.
A disease caused by parasites of the leishmania type, it is spread by the bite of sandflies.
Health activists collected samples of sandflies from the premises and the neighbourhood of the infected person’s home in Sooppikkada on Wednesday.
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Sources said detailed entomological tests would be conducted soon.
District Medical Officer V. Jayashree told The Hindu that no others had been found to have exhibited symptoms of the disease.
Insecticides would be sprayed in the area once the detailed lab results were out, she added. Skin ulcers are the main symptoms of leishmaniasis, which erupts weeks or months after the person is bitten by the infected sandflies.
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Health Department staff and Accredited Social Health Activists visited 40 houses in the panchayat on Wednesday.
Action initiated
A meeting of the rapid response team involving the local grama panchayat president, local medical officer, veterinary officer, forest officer and Kudumbasree workers was held.
It has been decided to hold an awareness session in the panchayat on July 30. The panchayat is also taking up cleaning work in the ward.
According to sources, the 42-year-old infected person had been under treatment at a private hospital in Kochi for fever. Leishmaniasis was diagnosed after detailed tests.