page_title: Kala azar in India
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Kala azar in India / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Scientist Sir Upendra Nath Brahmachari was an Indian scientist and a leading medical practitioner of his time. He synthesized Urea Stibamine (carbostibamide) in 1922 and determined that it was an effective substitute for the other antimony-containing compounds in the treatment of Kala-azar (Visceral leishmaniasis) which is caused by a protozoon, Leishmania donovani.
context_page_description: Kala azar in India refers to the special circumstances of the disease kala azar as it exists in India. Kala azar is a major health problem in India with an estimated 146,700 new cases per year as of 2012. In the disease a parasite causes sickness after migrating to internal organs such as the liver, spleen and bone marrow. If left untreated the disease almost always results in the death. Signs and symptoms include fever, weight loss, fatigue, anemia, and substantial swelling of the liver and spleen.
  People get the disease from the bites of sandflies which themselves got a parasite from drinking blood of another person infected with the parasite. Globally there are more than 20 different Leishmania parasites which cause the disease and 90 species of sandfly which spread those parasites. In the Indian subcontinent, however, there is only one common species of parasite, Leishmania donovani and only one species of sandfly, Phlebotomus argentipes, which spreads the disease. The form of the disease, the medicine for eliminating the parasite, and insecticide for preventing the insect bite varies by region, and there are recommendations in place for India.
context_section_description: India has long been involved in drug development for kala azar.
  William Twining, an East India Company military physician, wrote a modern medical description of kala azar in 1835.
  In 1903 William Boog Leishman, a British Army medical officer, reported from Dum Dum near Calcutta identifying parasites which cause kala azar. His report was correct, and scientists gave his name to the parasite Leishmania and to the Western name of the disease, leishmaniasis.
  Bengali physician and scientist Upendranath Brahmachari treated, researched, and published about kala-azar until his death in 1946.
  India's National Malaria Eradication Programme was using DDT between 1953 and 1964 as the insecticide to prevent malaria. DDT is highly effective was banned for also being toxic to humans and the environment. When India was using DDT, that effort to reduce malaria also killed sandflies and prevented kala azar. After 1964 and the halt of DDT use, kala azar returned, but physicians no longer recognized the disease after its absence.
  From about 1960–1975, there were no records of kala azar in the subcontinent. In 1978 in Nepal people reported the disease. From 1980 the disease spread among many people.
caption: Upendranath Brahmachari researched kala-azar in Kolkata
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