Publications

Eastern Africa is the region most affected by visceral leishmaniasis (VL), accounting for 66% of cases globally that were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2021. In this region, VL is considered endemic in Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda; it is caused by infection with the parasite Leishmania donovani. The disease is generally considered anthroponotic, although indications for zoonotic reservoirs exist. Transmission of infection in the main endemic foci is by the sandfly Phlebotomus orientalis (in Sudan, northern South Sudan and north Ethiopia) which is abundant in savannahs dominated by Acacia seyal and/ or Balanites aegyptiaca trees. These sandflies breed inside the cracks of black cotton soil and rarely go inside rooms, but bite humans in the courtyards of houses as well as in peridomestic habitats.