peshawar   -   The Health Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday issued advisory for general public regarding protection from Leishmaniasis, a skin disease caused through bite of sandfly that starts from a lesion and turns into a large skin ulcer.

A colored advertisement has been issued in prominent national dailies of the country containing advises and remedial measure from the skin disease which is not only painful but is also considered as stigma because of the scar and disfigurement it causes on face or other infected parts of body.

The advisory issued to apprise people about protective measures that should be adopted specially in rural settlements where this sand fly is found, says Salahuddin Marwat, Entomologist Integrated Vector Control and Management Programme KP.

Talking to APP, Salahuddin said that awareness about Leishmaiasis was very less among masses and its infection was increasing with passage of time.

In 2018, there was an outbreak of Leishmaniasis in KP, infecting around 28000 people in merged and adjacent Southern districts.

Medecins Sans Frontier (MSF), an international medical humanitarian organisation, has sets up a treatment centre in Peshawar after the outbreak and is providing free of cost treatment to thousands of patients in the province.

In the advisory people are also informed that Leishmaniasis can not transmit from one human to another unless bitten by the sand fly.

Similarly, masses are urged to cover body parts as protection from sting of mosquito and sand fly, avoid sleeping in open space during night, use mosquito net or repellent, spray insect killer in rooms, ensure cleanliness at home as sand fly is attracted by animal dung and waste, cover cracks in walls and holes make by mouse.

People are also asked to start treatment at the earliest soon after appearance of the lesion. Don’t do traditional treatment but visit selected treatment centres set up by the Health Department for proper and timely treatment of the infection.

Salahuddin Marwat said majority of infected people delay treatment which cause seriousness of the disease, pain and disfigurement.

He said sand fly bite increases in summer season especially after monsoon and appearance of infection starts after passage of around one or one and a half month.