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. The numbers will double within the next 10 years due to demographic changes, better diagnostic capabilities and life style changes. Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre established a Cancer Care Centre (CCC) in December 2016 for a catchment area of 15 million people in Northern Tanzania. This article aims to display the hematological diagnosis and characteristics of the patients as well as to describe the advancements of hematologic services in a low resource setting. METHODS:A cross-sectional analysis of all hematological malignancies at CCC from December 2016 to May 2019 was performed and a narrative report provides information about diagnostic means, treatment and the use of synergies. RESULTS:A total of 209 cases have been documented, the most common malignancies were NHL and MM with 44% and 20%. 36% of NHL cases, 16% of MM cases and 63% of CML cases were seen in patients under the age of 45. When subcategorized, CLL/SLL cases had a median age was 56.5, 51 years for those with other entities of NHL. Sexes were almost equally balanced in all NHL groups while clear male predominance was found in HL and CML. DISCUSSION:Malignancies occur at a younger age and higher stages than in Western countries. It can be assumed that infections play a key role herein. Closing the gap of hematologic services in SSA can be achieved by adapting and reshaping existing infrastructure and partnering with international organizations

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. Repeat bone marrow aspiration and PCR eventually confirmed visceral leishmaniasis (VL). The patient denied travel to known endemic areas of VL. Treatment was initiated with Amphotericin B, but the patient died on the fourth day of treatment from respiratory insufficiency. An autopsy revealed massive organ manifestations of VL. This is the first reported autochthonous case of VL in Tanzania. Clark and colleagues detected the vector Phlebotomus martini in Northern Tanzania in 2013, in a region bordering the district of our patient. The negative rapid test draws attention to the fact that sensitivity and specificity were found to be low in East African VL patients as displayed earlier by a Kenyan study. Therefore, tissue samples (spleen or bone marrow) remain necessary for diagnosis. The variety of symptoms in this presented case was remarkable, including the occurrence of post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) and VL at the same time. This has been described in East African VL cases before as well as the occurrence of chronic diarrhea. An elongated undiagnosed period likely led to a mixed clinical picture that included hepato-splenomegaly, PKDL, cachexia, and diarrhea