Skin maculae, chronic diarrhea, cachexia, and splenomegaly-Late presentation of the first autochthonous case of visceral leishmaniasis in Tanzania.

A 20-year-old man from Simanjiro district in northern Tanzania presented with a 3-year history of splenomegaly, fatigue, cachexia, skin maculae, and recent onset of watery diarrhea at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) in Northern Tanzania. Due to laboratory findings of pancytopenia, diagnostic workup included bone marrow aspiration cytology and biopsy. Although the rapid test (IT LEISH, rK39 RDT) was negative, blood smear showed amastigote forms of leishmaniasis in macrophages.

Early molecular response in East African Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukaemia patients treated with Imatinib and barriers to access treatment.

Background: Data about haematologic malignancies from Tanzania are sparse. African studies show that chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is the most common leukaemia, and registry data display a lower mean age at diagnosis. Prognosis is generally good with tyrosine kinase inhibitors, but the molecular response of Imatinib treatment has never been studied in East Africa, and the outcome remains unknown.

Hematological malignancies in East Africa-Which cancers to expect and how to provide services.

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has an increasing non-communicable disease burden. Tanzania has an incidence of more than 35,000 cancer cases per year with an 80% mortality rate. Hematological malignancies account for 10% of these cases.