Are You Aware of the Neglected Tropical Diseases?

Poor countries have little money to make known their plight to the rest of the world. To make the voices of despair heart around the world the Neglected Tropical Disease Coalition (NTDC) was formed.

Are these names familiar to you...leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminths, or trachoma? If you answered, no, do not feel bad, because many individuals rarely hear mention of these tropical diseases anymore. The reason is that industrialized countries do not usually have to deal with these diseases anymore. They are the diseases that still ravage poor countries.

Poor countries have little money to make known their plight to the rest of the world. To make the voices of despair heart around the world the Neglected Tropical Disease Coalition (NTDC) was formed. The NTDC is made up of individual disease alliances, as well as international agencies, their corporate partners, interested academic institutions, some faith-based groups, and also non-governmental organizations.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and also the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identify diseases that are "targets of opportunity" with the purpose of improving global health. The six diseases mentioned earlier are being targeted to help control or to eliminate the diseases altogether. What will make this possible is the joint effort of all the participants in NTDC to cooperate with scientific breakthroughs and corporate philanthropic efforts to fund research and treatment programs. Success can almost be seen in the treatment of trachoma in Morocco and leprosy has declined globally. When disease is irradiated in these countries, the citizens become more productive and the global economy improves. This is why all countries industrial or poor should care about these neglected tropical diseases. Improved economies have an impact on the global economy because of world trade. Financial impact and the health of local residents is not the only concern. International travelers, many those who are called to serve are also greatly at risk to contract these neglected tropical diseases.

Tropical Veterinary Medicine malariae. There are 100 countries and territories that malaria can be contracted. The largest areas of infection for malaria are Brasil, Central and South America, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania. Malaria-infected mosquitoes cause malaria. Preventing infection requires that you avoid being bitten by mosquitoes and by taking prophylactics antimalaria preparation. Tropical Veterinary Medicine

These neglected tropical diseases not only have an impact on the citizens of the poor countries where they are found, but any individual traveling to those countries are at risk for exposure to these tropical diseases including missionaries, and also volunteers with the peace corps. These individuals deserve the opportunity to serve without being exposed to these neglected diseases.

The statistics are sad and should be alarming to everyone. 3 billion children, women and men are at risk from these 6 neglected tropical diseases. 350 million individuals have already been disabled or impaired severely by exposure to these neglected tropical diseases.

The cost to work productivity is $10 billion annually or more. This loss represents revenue that could have boosted the country out of poverty and enabled it to become productive in the global economy.

The ability to diagnose, treat and even prevent these 6 diseases exists; the goal to eliminate these diseases is real.

There are low or no-cost medications available from four of the major pharmaceutical companies, namely - GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co., Inc., Novartis, and Pfizer who have already donated drugs and cash support.

Treatment intervals that are community based is possible which will offer the ability to combine treatments that will be more cost effective and have a greater impact on more of the population.

The cost for community-wide treatment of these 6 diseases ranges from just a few cents to a few dollars per individual.

There are in existence the tools, local and national support to rid these countries of the diseases.

This means that the tools and opportunity exist to address the issue of neglected tropical diseases, it remains the responsibility of individuals, corporations and countries to take action.

Tropical Disease Dangers!

09/04/2010
Novartis and collaborators discover novel antimalarial drug candidate
Novartis announced that scientists at the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD), in collaboration with researchers from the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF), the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a novel compound that shows promise as a next generation treatment for drug resistant malaria.

Novartis and collaborators discover novel antimalarial drug candidate

09/04/2010
Single-dose of experimental malaria drug clears parasites in mice, represents potential new class of drugs to treat ...
An experimental malaria drug was shown to effectively treat the disease in mice with only a single dose, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science, Reuters reports (Kelland, 9/2). The new drug, known as NITD609, "represents an entirely new class of medicines to treat malaria ... Human trials, backed by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG, could begin later this year," the ...

Single-dose of experimental malaria drug clears parasites in mice, represents potential new class of drugs to treat ...

09/02/2010
Novartis Malaria Drug May Yield First New Treatment in 30 Years
An experimental Novartis AG medicine that killed drug-resistant malaria in laboratory studies may become the first new class of treatment against the disease in 30 years, researchers said.

Novartis Malaria Drug May Yield First New Treatment in 30 Years

09/04/2010
Single-dose of experimental malaria drug clears parasites in mice, represents potential new class of drugs to treat ...
An experimental malaria drug was shown to effectively treat the disease in mice with only a single dose, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science, Reuters reports (Kelland, 9/2). The new drug, known as NITD609, "represents an entirely new class of medicines to treat malaria ... Human trials, backed by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG, could begin later this year," the ...

Single-dose of experimental malaria drug clears parasites in mice, represents potential new class of drugs to treat ...

08/31/2010
How Disease-Causing Parasite Gets Around Human Innate Immunity
Trypanosomes are parasites responsible for many human and animal diseases, primarily in tropical climates. One disease these parasites cause, African sleeping sickness, results from the bite of infected tsetse flies, putting over 60 million Africans at risk in 36 sub-Saharan countries. The recent 1998-2001 sleeping sickness epidemics in South Sudan, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and ...

How Disease-Causing Parasite Gets Around Human Innate Immunity

09/02/2010
Dr. Reese Halter: Stupendous Tropical Rainforests Offer Medicine and Fight Global Warming
Tropical forests are felled at approximately 55,000 square miles a year. This is equivalent to the area of Switzerland and the Netherlands combined -- the size of a football field every second.

Dr. Reese Halter: Stupendous Tropical Rainforests Offer Medicine and Fight Global Warming

09/04/2010
Novartis and collaborators discover novel antimalarial drug candidate
Novartis announced that scientists at the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD), in collaboration with researchers from the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF), the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a novel compound that shows promise as a next generation treatment for drug resistant malaria.

Novartis and collaborators discover novel antimalarial drug candidate

09/04/2010
Compound Cleared Malaria Parasites Quickly In Mice
A chemical that rid mice of malaria-causing parasites after a single oral dose may eventually become a new malaria drug if further tests in animals and people uphold the promise of early findings. The compound, NITD609, was developed by an international team of researchers including Elizabeth A. Winzeler, Ph.D., a grantee of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part ...

Compound Cleared Malaria Parasites Quickly In Mice