Neglected tropical diseases

Neglected tropical diseases
Number of people requiring interventions against neglected tropical diseases in 2015[1]
SpecialtyInfectious disease

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of tropical infections that are common in low-income populations in developing regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas.[2] They are caused by a variety of pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and parasitic worms (helminths). These diseases are contrasted with the "big three" infectious diseases (HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria), which generally receive greater treatment and research funding.[3] In sub-Saharan Africa, the effect of neglected tropical diseases as a group is comparable to that of malaria and tuberculosis.[4] NTD co-infection can also make HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis more deadly.[5]

Some treatments for NTDs are relatively inexpensive. For example, praziquantel for schistosomiasis costs about US $0.20 per child per year.[6] Nevertheless, in 2010 it was estimated that control of neglected diseases would require funding of between US$2 billion and $3 billion over the subsequent five to seven years.[7] Some pharmaceutical companies have committed to donating all the drug therapies required, and mass drug administration efforts (for example, mass deworming) have been successful in several countries.[8] While preventive measures are often more accessible in the developed world, they are not universally available in poorer areas.[9]

Within developed countries, neglected tropical diseases affect the very poorest in society. In the United States, there are up to 1.46 million families, including 2.8 million children, living on less than two dollars per day.[10] In developed countries, the burdens of neglected tropical diseases are often overshadowed by other public health issues. However, many of the same issues put populations at risk in developed as well as developing nations. For example, other problems stemming from poverty, such as lack of adequate housing, can expose individuals to the vectors of these diseases.[11]

Twenty neglected tropical diseases are prioritized by the World Health Organization (WHO), though other organizations define NTDs differently. Chromoblastomycosis and other deep mycoses, scabies and other ectoparasites, and snakebite envenomation were added to the WHO list in 2017.[12] These diseases are common in 149 countries, affecting more than 1.4 billion people (including more than 500 million children)[13] and costing developing economies billions of dollars every year.[14] They resulted in 142,000 deaths in 2013, down from 204,000 deaths in 1990.[15]

  1. ^ Ritchie, Roser, Mispy, Ortiz-Ospina. "Measuring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals." SDG-Tracker.org, website (2018).
  2. ^ Hotez PJ, Aksoy S, Brindley PJ, Kamhawi S (January 2020). "What constitutes a neglected tropical disease?". PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 14 (1): e0008001. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0008001. PMC 6991948. PMID 31999732.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hotez was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Hotez PJ, Kamath A (August 2009). Cappello M (ed.). "Neglected tropical diseases in sub-Saharan Africa: review of their prevalence, distribution, and disease burden". PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 3 (8): e412. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000412. PMC 2727001. PMID 19707588.
  5. ^ Mike Shanahan (31 January 2006). "Beat neglected diseases to fight HIV, TB and malaria". SciDev.Net. Archived from the original on 19 May 2006.
  6. ^ "Making the Case to Fight Schistosomiasis". NPR.org. National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 10 October 2008. Retrieved 1 December 2008.
  7. ^ Hotez PJ (January 2010). "A plan to defeat neglected tropical diseases". Scientific American. 302 (1): 90–4, 96. Bibcode:2010SciAm.302a..90H. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0110-90 (inactive 1 November 2024). PMID 20063641. Archived from the original on 6 August 2014.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  8. ^ Reddy M, Gill SS, Kalkar SR, Wu W, Anderson PJ, Rochon PA (October 2007). "Oral drug therapy for multiple neglected tropical diseases: a systematic review". JAMA. 298 (16): 1911–24. doi:10.1001/jama.298.16.1911. PMID 17954542.
  9. ^ Hotez P (1 November 2009). "Neglected diseases amid wealth in the United States and Europe". Health Affairs. 28 (6): 1720–5. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.28.6.1720. PMID 19887412. ... the rates of toxocariasis, trichomoniasis, and other neglected infections are approximately the same in the United States as they are in Nigeria.
  10. ^ "Research Publications | Poverty Solutions at The University of Michigan". www.npc.umich.edu. Archived from the original on 23 July 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  11. ^ Hotez PJ (September 2012). "Fighting neglected tropical diseases in the southern United States" (PDF). BMJ. 345: e6112. doi:10.1136/bmj.e6112. PMID 22977143. S2CID 22530671. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2017.
  12. ^ Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases WHO Team (16 January 2023). "Neglected tropical diseases: Q&A". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 5 December 2023. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  13. ^ "DNDi – Best Science for the Most Neglected". www.dndi.org. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  14. ^ "Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases: What we do". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  15. ^ GBD 2013 Mortality Causes of Death Collaborators (January 2015). "Global, regional, and national age-sex specific all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 240 causes of death, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013". Lancet. 385 (9963): 117–171. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61682-2. PMC 4340604. PMID 25530442.