In El Salvador's Bajo Lempa region, an alarming spike in chronic kidney disease of unknown cause (CKDu) is affecting mainly young to middle-aged agricultural workers. This mysterious illness has been linked to unhealthy working conditions and has emerged since the 1990s, with reports indicating that one in four men in the area may be afflicted. Renowned expert Emmanuel Jarquín, who founded a research organization to protect agricultural laborers from such diseases, highlights the critical situation that continues to escalate, with thousands likely having succumbed to this deadly epidemic.
In 2007, Jarquín founded the Agency for Development and Agricultural Health (AGDYSA), aiming to protect agricultural workers from kidney disease.
Oscar clutched his wife's hand instead of his steel machete; he had gone to find out whether his kidneys were failing.
In Bajo Lempa, as many as one in four adult men suffer from chronic kidney disease, starkly higher than the global average.
Tens of thousands have likely died from CKDu, yet hard data on its global prevalence remains uncollected.
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