What are Tropical Diseases?
The World Health Organization (WHO) focuses attention on the poor and developing regions of Americas, Asia and Africa. There are ten tropical diseases that WHO focuses on currently. The ten diseases are:
Tropical diseases are defined as infectious diseases that occur in the tropical or subtropical regions. These diseases do not only impact the locals in these regions but due to these areas being available to air travel, travelers often contract tropical diseases and bring them back to their homes, thus spreading tropical diseases to other countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) focuses attention on the poor and developing regions of Americas, Asia and Africa. There are ten tropical diseases that WHO focuses on currently. The ten diseases are:
African trypanosomiasis, chagas disease, dengue fever, leishmaniasis, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, malaria, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis and also tuberculosis. cholera, leprosy, tuberculosis and yellow fever are not only tropical diseases because they do occur elsewhere than just the tropics, they have a very high incidence in the tropics which is why they are included.
There are some occurrences of epidemics such as the Ebola hemorrhagic fever, and the Lassa fever or the Marburg virus which are not considered tropical diseases but do occur in the tropics in epidemic form. Besides Ebola other epidemics have been West Nile disease, Guinea Worm, and Mapucho hemorrhagic fever.
The consistent hot climate and large volume of rains creates the environment that breeds tropical disease. Tropical regions usually also have large reservoirs that are perfect breeding grounds for insects and other animal diseases that can then be transmitted to humans. The high temperatures of the tropics may favor pathogenic agents. The poor economic environment makes it difficult to combat or eliminate endemic tropical diseases.
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Malaria can be contracted in both the city as well as in the country.
Malaria is a highly curable disease if caught early on so detection, diagnosis and early treatment are important.
Tropical Veterinary Medicine
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The greenhouse effect and increasing global temperatures also has an impact on the spread of tropical diseases.
Tropical diseases include eye diseases, skin diseases, insect-borne diseases, parasitic diseases and also infectious diseases. Common names categorized under tropical diseases are: leprosy, malaria, river blindness, schistosomiasis, sleeping sickness, tuberculosis, yellow fever, ringworm, and also chagas disease just to name a few.
One sixth of the world's population will have to personally deal with a tropical disease. Insects, parasites and vectors all cause tropical diseases. Neglected tropical diseases include Buruli ulcer, cholera, cysticercosis, guinea-worm disease, and food borne infections such as fascioliasis. Dengue is a vector-borne.
Tropical diseases can be controlled by medications, better living conditions and improved waste sanitation facilities. Programs that give nutritional support to those who live in areas hit by tropical diseases helps to strengthen the body's resistance to the effects of disease. Community-wide vaccination programs and medical treatment programs can make a difference. Getting these programs started is often difficult because of local resistance.
Using deet-containing insect repellent, and treating clothing with permethrin can prevent tropical diseases like malaria. Sleeping under a mosquito net is a must. Medications that are prophylactic in nature are used to ward off malaria and include mefloquine, chloroquine, proguanil and also quinine, and also qinghaosu.
Amebiasis can be prevented by following good hand washing techniques, using boiled or filtered water, and by cooking food well. It is also important to avoid eating fly- contaminated foods.
Giardiasis can also be avoided by using good hand washing technique and by boiling or filtering water, and also by cooking food well. It is also important to avoid anal-oral contact.
Schistosomiasis can be prevented if contaminated water (fresh water) is avoided and chlorinated water or seawater is used (lower risk). Bath water should be heated to at least 50 degrees C or 122 degrees F, for more than five minutes or allowed to stand for 3 days before using it. Tropical Disease Dangers!
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
09/03/2010
News From The Journal Of Clinical Investigation: Sept. 1, 2010
INFECTIOUS DISEASE: Modified adenovirus malaria vaccine works a treat in mice Malaria kills more than 1 million individuals each year. Despite intensive research, there is still no malaria vaccine approved for use. A team of researchers, led by Moriya Tsuji, at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, New York, has now designed a new vaccine that provides protection from malaria in mice. The team ...
News From The Journal Of Clinical Investigation: Sept. 1, 2010
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
New Potential Malaria Treatment Identified
A newly identified compound kills the malaria parasite well before it creates major health problems within an infected person, a new study finds. It might one day serve as a new drug to treat the infectious disease.
New Potential Malaria Treatment Identified
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
09/03/2010
Research At GHESKIO Leads To Update In WHO Guidelines For HIV Treatment
Prompted by clinical research into the early initiation of antiretroviral therapies for HIV performed at the GHESKIO clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the World Health Organization (WHO) has revised its treatment protocols for HIV patients. Final results from the four-year study, led by Weill Cornell Medical College's infectious and tropical disease experts, were published in the July 15 issue of ...
Research At GHESKIO Leads To Update In WHO Guidelines For HIV Treatment
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