An inexplicable epidemic in Central America, where more than 16,000 people — mostly sugarcane workers — have died from incurable chronic kidney disease. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports from Nicaragua. By Kerry Sanders and Lisa Riordan SevilleNBC NewsCHICHIGALPA, Nicaragua – You won’t see a road sign pointing to “La Isla de Viudas,” or “The Island of Widows,” as it’s not the community’s official name. It’s a nickname born from a horrific body count.
In the past 10 years, it’s believed that hundreds, if not thousands, of residents of Chichigalpa — mostly male sugarcane workers — have died from chronic kidney disease, or CKD. That in a city of nearly 60,000, roughly the size of Ames, Iowa.
The mysterious and hidden epidemic, first highlighted by the Center for Public Integrity (http://www.publicintegrity.org/node/7578/), has claimed thousands more lives across Central America. In El Salvador and Nicaragua alone, the number of men dying from the excruciatingly painful disease has risen five-fold in the last two decades. High rates of CKD also have been found in rural villages in India and among the rice paddies of Sri Lanka.
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