Kala azar in Gujarat
Physicians in Gujarat seem unaware of the threat of kala-azar. "I have been practising in Vadodara for more than 17 years, and I have rarely come across a kala-azar case,' says Sailesh Trivedi, a noted private practitioner. The state is facing serious problems from malaria, but not kala-azar, he points out. "It may be possible that kala-azar cases are not diagnosed properly as the disease is not considered a threat to the people here,' feels J C Gandhi, additional director of health services, government of Gujarat.
The southern areas of Gujarat were earlier arid and inhospitable to the sandfly. Irrigation of the deep black soil having water retention properties led to increased humidity and lowered temperatures, providing ideal breeding conditions for the sandfly. Kalra explains that black soil has the capacity to retain water like a sponge. "Irrigation changed the microclimatic conditions which permitted the P argentipes to gain a quick hold in this region,' he observes, adding that it provided sandflies an "extended life which permitted wider transmission. Unfortunately, no one has even attempted to investigate all these aspects'.