A woman has been detected with kala-azar, an infectious disease caused by sand flies, in Baitadi district. The woman of Dogadakedar Rural Municipality-5 was tested positive for the disease at a hospital in Dhangadhi, said Bhuvan Prasad Joshi, the public health inspector at the health office, Baitadi.

“Following this, samples of the 21 people who came in contact with the infected woman have been collected. But all of them have been tested negative,” he said, adding that other people in the community where the infected woman resides have been tested negative.

Symptoms of the disease include recurrent fever, loss of appetite, weight loss, dry, thin and scaly skin, grayish discolouration of the skin of hands, feet, abdomen and face and anaemia among others. To be safe from the disease, people have been advised to keep house and surroundings clean, use mosquito nets and cover body parts with clothing during evening.

It may be noted that though the Kala-azar elimination activities have been started in Nepal since 2005 with an objective of eliminating the disease by 2015, the target have so far remained unmet. However, the efforts are marked with a steady decline in the infection, sporadic cases are in the report.