[Visceral leishmaniasis in Central Asia and Kazakhstan].

At present sporadic foci of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) are encountered mainly in the natural foci. The natural foci of VL are situated mainly in valleys and foothills. In southern areas of the Turkmen SSR the majority of cases were registered in small settlements situated near wells in interbarkhan lowerings. The reservoir of pathogen here may be Vulpes vulpes and dogs and the most likely vector is Phlebotomus turanicus. In Kazakhstan cases of VL are encountered in the thickets of the Syr-Darya floodlands in Kzyl-Orda Province, where the natural reservoir of the pathogen are Canis aureus L. and Vulpes corsac, and the vector is P. smirnovi. Synanthropic foci in Dzhambul and Chimkent, where dogs were most likely the source of the infection and P. longiductus was the vector, are at present inactive. The maps have been plotted where landscape dissemination of mosquitoes (VL vectors) is compared to places of habitation of Canis aureus L. and VL incidence in humans at peaks of the disease endemia. Medical personnel should be on the look-out for VL on the whole territory with VL natural foci.