kala azar

vis·cer·al leish·man·i·a·sis

1. a chronic disease, occurring in India, China, Pakistan, the Mediterranean littoral, the Middle East, South and Central America, Asia, and Africa caused by Leishmania donovani and transmitted by the bite of an appropriate species of sandfly of the genus Phlebotomus or Lutzomyia; the organisms grow and multiply in macrophages, eventually causing them to burst and liberate amastigote parasites, which then invade other macrophages; proliferation of macrophages in the bone marrow crowds out erythroid and myeloid elements, resulting in leukopenia, anemia, splenomegaly, and hepatomegaly, that are characteristic, along with enlargement of lymph nodes; fever, fatigue, malaise, and secondary infections also occur; different strains of L. donovani occur; L. infantum in Eurasia, L. chagasi in Latin America.

2. visceral leishmaniasis caused by L. tropica, cultured from bone marrow aspirates of some military patients following the Gulf War.

Synonym(s): Assam fever, black sickness, Burdwan fever, cachectic fever, Dumdum fever, kala azar, tropic splenomegaly

vis·cer·al leish·ma·ni·a·sis

(vis'ĕr-ăl lēsh'mă-nī'ă-sis)

A chronic tropical disease caused by Leishmania donovani (less commonly, other species) and transmitted by the bite of a sandfly of the genus Phlebotomus or Lutzomyia; the organisms grow and multiply in macrophages, which eventually burst and liberate amastigote parasites, which then invade other macrophages; proliferation of macrophages in the bone marrow causes crowding out of erythroid and myeloid elements, which results in leukopenia, as well as anemia, splenomegaly, and hepatomegaly, which are characteristic, along with enlargement of lymph nodes; fever, fatigue, malaise, and secondary infections also occur.
Synonym(s): kala azar.

kala azar

One of the forms of LEISHMANIASIS, caused by Leishmania organisms and spread by the bite of sandflies. Kala azar occurs mainly in the Mediterranean area and in India, but is spreading westward into Europe. There is fever, anaemia, lymph node swelling, enlargement of the spleen and liver, damage to the bone marrow, malnutrition and loss of immune capacity (immunosuppression). The condition can be diagnosed by the ELISA test and is treated with drugs containing antimony. Also known as visceral leishmaniasis.