IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FO R PURE & APPL. SC I VO L.22 (3) 2009 Ecological Aspects of Dwelling Po sition For A previous Case of Kala – azar in South of Baghdad , Iraq S. A. Salman Departme nt of Biology , College of Sciences ,Unive rsity of Baghdad Abstract This is a contribution to st udy the situation of a dwelling of p revious case of kala- azar in the endemic area (AL-M ahmodiya/ AL-Rasheed district) about 25 km sout h of Baghdad. In order to assess the p ossible ecological causes of the incidence and the p revalence of visceral leishmaniasis, in one of the well-known foci of the disease in the central region of Iraq. It was found that the human dwelling p osition and ecological factors affect the infection with this disease. Key Words Factors, Ecology , Dwellin g, Kala-azar, Focus, Endemic area, South Baghd ad, Iraq. Introduction In the central region of Iraq the high number of the reported cases of visceral leishmaniasis was usually during December, January, February and M arch (1,2,3,4,5) The majority of p atients were infants of two y ears old (6,7,8,9). The main traditional endemic area with this disease is the central region of Iraq (10,11,12). Also the incidences of kala-azar were reported in north and sout h regions of Iraq (10,13,14,15). M any localities such as M ahmodiya, Rasheed, Youssifiy a, Latifiya, Suwaira, Az iziy a, M adien, Faluja, Numaniy a and Abou-Ghraib are well known as traditional foci of this disease (1,2,5,7,8,14,15). However, the endemic area is the alluvial p lain around Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where are the cultivated farms with many kinds of p lants. The human dwellings, which are mud- made and these of animal shelters are usually favorable p laces for breeding and resting of the vector (1). The breeding of livestock makes a suitable condition for both the vectors and the reservoirs (12,13,14). The aim of this invest igation is to st udy the ecological factors and the dwelling p osition of a kala- azar p atient near Baghdad in one of the famous foci of visceral leishmaniasis in the central region of Iraq (2,3). Materials and Method The dwelling of the p revious case of kala-azar is in Al-Rasheed district about 25 km to the south of Baghdad. The reported case was from Central Hosp ital for Children in Baghdad City . Human dwelling, animal shelter, wind direction were map p ed. Also, the resting and sleep ing p laces of the family during the night and the p laces of the dogs were carefully noted. Rodent's burrows were marked around the p atient dwelling. The st udy area was visited regularity biweekly during 2000 and 2001. Rodents were trap p ed with the help of 12 live traps. Sand flies were collected with four CDC malaria traps in and around the dwelling in a circle of about 300-m diameter. IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FO R PURE & APPL. SC I VO L.22 (3) 2009 Results One case of kala-azar was reported in December1999 from Central Hosp ital for Children in Baghdad. This case was of a girl of three y ears old. She was diagnosed as kala- azar after clinical examinations. The dwelling of this p atient was built in the1970s of cement in an op en land cultivated with different kinds of cereals and vegetables. Date palms trees shade the dwelling. The animal shelters are in the west of the dwelling (Fig. 1). These are very suitable breeding and feeding p laces for the sand flies (dark place, p resence of animals, manure, straw, deep soil cracks and humidity ) as indicated in Fig. (2). Also, the main direction of the wind during summer nights in Iraq was generally northwest with slow breeze. The previous cases, which were rep orted from this focus during the three last decades, were at few meters in the west of the dwelling of the present study . In 2000, a new case was reported eastward of the present dwelling. Also four p revious cases of kala-azar were reported in the 1990s from an area of 500 m of a diameter around the p resent dwelling. The using of CDC traps in the dwellings (in 1999) showed that the high densities of the collected sand flies were also in west ward of the dwellings. The sp ecies of sand flies encountered were Phlebotomus papatasi Scolp i (with very high-density of 95%) Phlebotomus alexanderi Sinton and Sergentomiya baghdadis Adler&Theodor. The rest ing p lace of the patient in summer of 1999 was a few meters to the north of t he animal shelters (Fig.1). Also, in the hot nights of July and August , the density of sand flies was the highest. It was noted that the rest ing p laces of the dogs were few meters from the beds of the children. This fact increases the p robability of the infection rate in biting times. No external signs of leishmaniasis were noted on the examined dogs. The sp ecies of rodents in the st udy area were Rattus rattus, Rattus norv egicus, Mus musculus, Tatera indica , Nesokia indica Meriones libycus and Meriones crassus . Discussion This st udy showed that the ecological factors and man made factors increase the p robability of infections in the study focus. It seems also that t he position of human dwellings and animal shelters p lay an important role in the prevalence of the disease. The present study is imp ortant because of the followings: 1-Two cases of kala-azar were reported at the same dwelling during the last 12 y ears. 2-Two new cases were rep orted near the st udy dwelling in 2000. 3-Twenty fife cases were reported in the study area from 1970 till 2001. It seems also that t his kind of st udy (p atient's dwellings with visceral leishmaniasis) can assist in finding more information about the p ossible relationship s between different ecological factors, which affect t he prevalence of the disease. Re ferences 1.Abul-Hab, J. and Ahmed, S.A. (1984). J.Biol. Sci.R es. 7:1-64, 2.Abul-Hab, J. and Al-Baghd adi, R. (1972). Ann. T rop . M ed. Parasitol.66: 165-166, 3.Abul-Hab, J.andAl-Baghd adi, R. (1972b).Bull. End. Dis. Ba gh. 13 (4): 55-75, 4.Abul-Hab, J and Al-Hashimi, W. (1988)Bull. End. Dis. Baghd. 29: 5-16 5.Adler, S. and Theodor.O. (1929 a) Ann. T rop . M ed. Parasitol. 23: 269-303, 6.Nouri, L&AL- Jeboori, T. J. (1973). Fac. M ed. Bagh, 15:72-85 7.Pringel, G. (1956) Bull.End.Dis.Bagh. 275-294 8.Sukker, F. (1972). Bull. End.Dis.Bagh. 13 (4): 77-83 9.Sukker, F. (1974)Bull. End.Dis.Bagh. 15(2): 85-104 10.Sukker, F. (1982) Bull. End.Dis.Bagh. 20 (4):67-73 IBN AL- HAITHAM J. FO R PURE & APPL. SC I VO L.22 (3) 2009 11.Sukker, F. (1983) Bull. End.Dis.Bagh. 22(4) :35-41 12.Sukker, F. (1985) Bull. End.Dis.Bagh. 26 :(27-36) 13.AL-Alak S. S. (1996) M Sc. thesis .Vet. Coll. Uni. Bagh. Pp .77. 14-Jawdat, S .Z; Ali, N .A; Rifaat L. Kh; Ruth K. Y and Al M ahdawi S. K. (1985) (1985) J.Bio. Sci. R es. 16(1): 185-202 15-Jawdat, S. Z; Ali N .A; Rifaat L. Kh. and Rutha KY. (1983) J. Bio. Sci. Res. 148:81-87, Sun set in summer Wind direction is nort hwest in main p art of the y ear O O O O I R I G A T I O N C A N A L D R A Y I N O O CEREALS FARM O O O N O Human dwellin g O Animal shelter O O M anu re O O O O P o u lt ry Resting p lace in the night Human dwellin g (girl of 5 years old was died in 1975) O Vegetables farm O O Dogs sleep ing p lace O Animal shelter 6 cows M anu re S U M M E R Case of Kala- azar p atien t in 2000 O O O Neighbour O Fig. (1): Illust ration map showing the dwellin g of the case of kala azar. 5 m (OOO: Rodents burrows.** : Trees. : Date palm trees). Wind direction Tree Human dwellin g Animal shelter Low density of sand flies High density of sandflies Fig. (2): Diagram showing the effect of wind direction, trees and places of hi gh density of sand flies in the dwellin g of the present study . 2009) 3( 22مجلة ابن الهیثم للعلوم الصرفة والتطبیقیة المجلد تحدید موقع السكن وعالقته بالجوانب البیئیة في اإلصابة بمرض الكاالأزار جنوب بغداد ن شهاب احمد سلما جامعة بغداد،كلیة العلوم ،قسم علوم الحیاة الخالصة دراسـة موقـع أحـد المسـاكن المسـجلة بـه حـالتین سـابقتین لمـرض الكـاالازار فـي المنطقـة الموبـؤة بـالمرض مـن اجـل تـم مـدى عالقتهـا بموقـع المسـكن فـي قضـاء المحمودیـة جنـوب تحدید العوامل البیئیة المحتملة و التي تسـاعد علـى اإلصـابة و ن موقـع الـدار والعوامـل اوقـد وجـد .كم والتي تعتبر واحـدة مـن البـؤر المعروفـة للمـرض فـي وسـط العـراق25 قرابةمدینة بغداد ب .البیئیة هي في عالقة تساعد على اإلصابة بهذا المرض