Sri Lanka was certified malaria free last year. The challenge now is to maintain that status. Sophie Cousins reports.

Although it is a common infestation in the Asian region, human gnathostomiasis due to the third stage larvae of Gnathostoma species has not been reported in Sri Lanka up to now (1). The definitive hosts of this nematode are felids and canids, the former being particularly important. Humans are aberrant hosts and the disease is characterised by peripheral eosinophilia and a variety of local mani...

Dengue affects nearly 50 million people annually and specially threatens populations living in tropical regions like Sri Lanka. Based on the findings of a needs assessment of dengue management practices in Colombo, Sri Lanka, we have designed a socially mediated health information system for dengue surveillance and education. This system integrates the power of digital surveillance, digitized d...

This study evaluated the prevalence of protein energy malnutrition (PEM) in children under five years (n = 52), in three randomly selected, State operated foster care institutions in Sri Lanka. The prevalence of PEM, was (51.9%), underweight (63.5%) and wasting (25.0%) was found to be considerably higher than the national prevalence (13.5%, 29.4%, 14.0%, respectively). Based on this preliminary...

The apparent biotic affinities between the mainland and the island in the Western Ghats-Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot have been interpreted as the result of frequent migrations during recent periods of low sea level. We show, using molecular phylogenies of two invertebrate and four vertebrate groups, that biotic interchange between these areas has been much more limited than hitherto assumed. ...

Sri Lanka experienced a dramatic increase in dengue cases (15,400) in the 2004 2005 season. We carried out a prospective study to investigate cardiac involvement in dengue virus infected patients during the 2004 2005 season in Peradeniya, Central Province, Sri Lanka. Cardiac involvement was defined as elevated levels of myoglobin, creatine kinase-muscle brain-type, N-terminal pro-brain natriure...

Observed upper ocean currents south of Sri Lanka exhibit large, irregular fluctuations with periods of days to weeks. An ocean model driven by daily surface winds is able to reproduce the observed fluctuations. We find from model experiments that low frequency (30-50 day) intraseasonal variability (ISV) arises when Rossby waves radiated from the eastern boundary are amplified by hydrodynamic in...

We performed a laboratory analysis of spices sold in Sri Lanka for lead content. Samples of curry powder, chili powder and turmeric powder from seven provinces, collected using the market basket survey method, underwent atomic absorption spectrometry. Blanks and standards were utilised for instrument calibration and measurement accuracy. The results were validated in two different laboratories....

Leishmaniasis is caused by parasitic protozoa of the genus Leishmania. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in Sri Lanka with over 3000 cases during the last decade and numbers are increasing. Treatment options available in Sri Lanka for CL include intralesional/intramuscular sodium stibogluconate and cryotherapy. Eight cases of treatment failure with standard therapy are reported from the D...

H M N J Herath1, A W M Wazil1, N V I Ratnatunga2, A S Badurdeen1, K G A D Weerakoon3 1Nephrology and Transplant Unit, Teaching Hospital, Kandy, 2Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, and 3Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka. Correspondence: HMNJH, e-mail: . Recei...