It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

Leishmaniasis.

It is the name of a disease that is presently ravaging Afghanistan (yet another reason why I am glad I do not live there).

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a disabling disease transmitted by the bite of the sand fly. The disease leads to disfigurement usually on the face and hands, and social stigma, particularly for women and children.

Known locally as saldana, or one-year sore, leishmaniasis is linked to poor social conditions - particularly lack of hygiene and poor waste disposal. It is caused by a parasite transmitted by a sand fly. Sand flies inhabit the dried mud often used as building material for the construction of houses in Afghanistan, or around latrines. Starting with a lesion on the part of the body that has been bitten, the disease subsequently leads to severe scarring.

Foreign invasions, squabbling warlords, opium poppies, the Taliban, and now Leishmaniasis-causing sand flies; hasn't that poor country suffered enough?