Kutu Penghisap Darah Serang Uganda

Sabtu, 23 Oktober 2010 | 09:08 WIB

Kompas.com- Penyakit yang meyebabkan kulit penderitanya mirip dengan zombie di film-film horor mewabah di Uganda dan telah menewaskan 20 orang serta menyebabkan lebih dari 20.000 orang sakit dalam tempo dua bulan.

Jiggers, serangga kecil mirip dengan kutu, menjadi biang kerok epidemi yang menyebabkan kulit penderita menjadi busuk. Serangga ini biasanya masuk ke dalam tubuh melalui kaki. Begitu masuk, ia akan menghisap darah, tumbuh dan berkembang biak hingga jumlahnya mencapai ribuan. Seluruh bagian tubuh yang terkena, seperti bokong, kelopak mata, bahkan bibir, akan membusuk.

Bila mengenai anak-anak, jiggers bisa menyebabkan kematian karena banyaknya darah yang dihisap. Menurut James Kakooza, menteri kesehatan Uganda, jiggers juga menjadi penyebab kematian dini pada anak remaja yang menderita penyakit lain. Pada orangtua, infeksi penyakit ini menyebabkan mereka tidak bisa berjalan atau bekerja.

"Ini merupakan epidemi yang sedang kami lawan, namun kami yakin seiring dengan waktu kami mampu melenyapkan jiggers," kata Kakooza.

Istilah medis untuk penyakit akibat tungau ini adalah tungiasis yang disebabkan oleh lalat pasir betina yang menggali masuk ke kulit. Penyakit ini ditemukan di bagian Amerika Latin dan Karibia, selain sub-Sahara Afrika. Serangga tersebut umumnya berkembang biak di lingkungan kotor dan berdebu.

Kakooza juga menyebutkan 12 distrik yang terkena infeksi jiggers adalah daerah miskin dengan tingkat kebersihan rendah. "Kami sudah menghimbau warga untuk menggunakan sabun medis. Jigger juga terbukti bisa dibasmi dengan disiramkan bensin serta parafin," katanya.

Wilayah yang paling parah terkena penyakit tungiasis di Uganda adalah Busoga, sekitar 150 kilometer dari Kampala, ibukota Ugada. Beberapa kasus baru juga dilaporkan terjadi di daerah tengah, sekitar 70 kilometer dari ibukota, sehingga menimbulkan kekhawatiran akan penyebaran penyakit ini ke seluruh negeri.

http://health.kompas.com/index.php/read/2010/10/23/09084819/Kutu.Penghisap.Darah.Serang.Uganda-12

Penulis: AN | Editor: Lusia Kus Anna | Sumber : AFP

Horror disease hits Uganda

AP – In this photo of Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2010, Anatoli Alemo 40 a resident of Kamuli district in eastern …

GODFREY OLUKYA, Associated Press Writer – 56 mins ago

KAMPALA, Uganda – A disease whose progression and symptoms seem straight out of a horror movie but which can be treated has killed at least 20 Ugandans and sickened more than 20,000 in just two months.

Jiggers, small insects which look like fleas, are the culprits in the epidemic which causes parts of the body to rot. They often enter through the feet. Once inside a person's body, they suck the blood, grow and breed, multiplying by the hundreds. Affected body parts — buttocks, lips, even eyelids — rot away.

James Kakooza, Uganda's minister of state for primary health care, said jiggers can easily kill young children by sucking their blood and can cause early deaths in grown-ups who have other diseases. Most of those infected, especially the elderly, cannot walk or work.

"It is an epidemic which we are fighting against and I am sure over time we will eradicate the jiggers," Kakooza said.

The insects breed in dirty, dusty places. The medical name for the parasitic disease is tungiasis, which is caused by the female sand fly burrowing into the skin. It exists in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, besides sub-Saharan Africa.

Kakooza said health workers are telling residents of the 12 affected districts in Uganda that jiggers thrive amid poor hygienic conditions.

"We are also telling them to use medicated soap. They can apply petrol and paraffin in places infested by jiggers and they die," Kakooza said.

The most affected part of Uganda is the Busoga region in the east, 150 kilometers (90 miles) from Kampala, Uganda's capital. Some cases have been reported in the central region, less that 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the city, which has led to fears the whole country might be affected.

Some think jiggers — whose scientific name is Tunga penetrans — were brought to Uganda and other east African countries by migrants from India who constructed the railway from Mombasa, the Kenyan seaport, to Kampala in the 19th century. Others say they came to Africa aboard a British ship that sailed from Brazil.

Over time locals were affected. One observer near the turn of the century called jiggers "the most fearful calamity that has ever afflicted the East African peoples" after seeing affected people on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro crawling around on all fours and groaning with pain. Colonial governments brought it under control but jiggers have since re-emerged where hygiene is poor.

Some affected people in rural Uganda, like Dakaba Kaala, think they are bewitched and simply wait to die instead of trying to remove the insects.

"For the last three years I have been suffering from jiggers," the 60-year-old said. "I lost two children killed by jiggers.They were sent to me by my neighbor who wants to grab my piece of land."

"It is common to find graves of whole families wiped away by jiggers," said Simon Wanjala, a ministry of health official in eastern Uganda,

Uganda's government has allocated 1 million US dollars to fight the epidemic. Treatment involves removal of the insect or topical medication.

A study a few years ago in Nigeria concluded that raising pigs, having sand or clay floors inside the home and having a resting place outside the house increased the risk of getting jiggers. Wearing closed shoes and using insecticides indoors helps prevent infestations.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101022/ap_on_he_me/af_uganda_the_rot

Ice cap on west Ugandan mountain range splits

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Tue May 4, 11:04 am ET

KAMPALA, Uganda – Ugandan wildlife authorities say the ice cap on the country's western Rwenzori mountain range has split after extensive melting caused by global warming.

Nelson Guma says ice covering Mount Margherita, the second highest peak in Africa, has melted forming a large crevasse some 6 meters (nearly 20 feet) wide.

Guma said Tuesday the split occurred on the climbing route to Mount Margherita and that tourists can no longer climb that peak, but authorities are working to create another route to the peak. The East African peak has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Environmental protection officer Henry Mujuzi says that because of global warming, the ice cap, which in the 1950s had covered four square miles, now covers less than a square mile.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100504/ap_on_re_af/af_uganda_ice_cap