Himalayan News Service

Gaighat, February 20:

Summer days are still far away, but people in the hilly areas of Udayapur have started visiting health centres after they were infected with kala-azar, it is reported.

The Udayapur district hospital informed that over 20 kala-azar patients have already been registered in the hospital from January 28 till second week of February.

Kala-azar patients are also found to have been visiting private clinics and hospitals in Lahan, Biratnagar and Rajbiraj, the hospital source said. Kala-azar usually spreads in the Terai region during the summer but this epidemic has spread in the hilly region, medical doctors said.

One Mancha Maya Rai, 55, a resident of Rauta Dahar, located in the hilly area of the district,died while under treatment on preceding Monday, Dr Raman Singh said.

The district health office Udayapur informed that a team comprising expert will be dispatched soon to the 44 VDCs to study about the outbreak of the disease.