Visceral leishmaniasis in southern Ethiopia I. Environmental and behavioural risk factors

Abstract

Abstract: The role of socio-economic, behaviourial and environmental factors in the transmission of VL and the relation of the disease to other endemic parasites was examined in a case control study. The household risk factors included unplastered house, keeping animals in human dwellings at night and proximity of residence to termite hills, with marginal effect of low family income. Overnight stays in an implicated site of intense VL transmission and ill-health prior to onset of VL were also indicated as major individual risk factors. The assessment of the relation of VL to other parasitic diseases showed that cases appeared to be prone to infection with T. saginata and G. lamblia. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1997;11(2):131-137]