Leishmaniasis is caused by over 20 different leishmania species and is transmitted to humans by sandflies. There are three main types of the disease: Visceral, cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis. Visceral leishmaniasis (VL also known as kala-azar) is fatal if left untreated.
Visceral leishmaniasis is characterized by irregular bouts of fever, weight loss, enlargement of the spleen and liver, and anaemia. It is highly endemic in the Indian subcontinent and in East Africa. An estimated 200 000 to 400 000 new cases of VL occur worldwide each year. Over 90% of new cases occur in six countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, South Sudan, and Sudan.
Model code
We are committed to making our model code available for use by other modellers. Below are links to code used in a recent publication:
le Rutte, Chapman et al. Elimination of visceral leishmaniasis in the Indian subcontinent: a comparison of predictions from three transmission models. Epidemics 2017. The code for the models are linked under Appendix A. Supplementary data.