Kala azar in an adult Libyan and review of visceral leishmaniasis in Libya.

Less than 30 confirmed cases of kala azar have been reported from Libya in this century. Many of the reported patients had stayed outside Libya and the majority were young children. After a span of fifty years we diagnosed an autochthonous case in an adult Libyan. The parasite was difficult to grow in N.N.N. culture media. During a small population survey in the area, no other case could be detected. Very little is known about the reservoir, vector, and sub-species of the parasite in Libya. The atypical symptoms, the rarity of cases detected and the difficulty of growing the parasite in vitro could be due to a different strain of the parasite causing visceral leishmaniasis in this area.