scholarly journals Whatever happened to China’s neglected tropical diseases?

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Hotez
Keyword(s):  
Disease Control ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Tropical Disease ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Parasitic Infections ◽  
Neglected Tropical Disease ◽  
Tropical Diseases

Abstract Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China 70 years ago, both extreme poverty and parasitic infections and other neglected tropical diseases were highly prevalent. Owing to social development, particularly economic reforms since the 1980s, poverty has since been dramatically reduced, and China became increasingly urbanized and industrialized. In parallel, China’s economic transformation translated into similar and remarkable reductions in neglected tropical diseases. Qian and colleagues report in their review published in Infectious Diseases of Poverty, the elimination or near elimination as a public health problem of lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, soil-transmitted helminth infections, schistosomiasis and other neglected tropical diseases. Of note, neglected tropical disease control and poverty reduction each appear to reinforce the other. China’s formula for success in parasitic and neglected tropical disease control might translate to other parts of the world, such as in sub-Saharan Africa through China’s new Belt and Road Initiative.

scholarly journals Ethiopia Schistosomiasis and Soil-Transmitted Helminthes Control Programme: Progress and Prospects

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Control Programme ◽  
Parasitic Infections ◽  
Major Public Health Problem ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
Ministry Of Health ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Endemic Areas ◽  
National Control Programme

Schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthes are among seventeen WHO prioritized neglected tropical diseases that infect humans. These parasitic infections can be treated using single-dose and safe drugs. Ethiopia successfully mapped the distribution of these infections nation wide. According to the mapping there are an estimated 37.3 million people living in schistosomiasis endemic areas, and 79 million in schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthes endemic areas. The Federal Ministry of Health successfully scaled up Schistosomiasis and schistosomiasis and soiltransmitted helminthes intervention in endemic areas and treated over 19 million individuals in 2015. The Ministry of Health has made a huge effort to establish neglected tropical diseases, including schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthes program in the health system which helped to map majority of the wored as and initiate nation wide intervention. The National control programme is designed to achieve elimination for those diseases as a major public health problem by 2020 and aim to attain transmission break by 2025. The programme focuses on reaching those school-aged children who are not attending school, integration between neglected tropical diseases programme, and further collaboration with the WASH actors.

World Chagas Disease Day and the New Road Map for Neglected Tropical Diseases

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (17) ◽  
pp. 1518-1520
Author(s):  
Leonardo L.G. Ferreira ◽  
Adriano D. Andricopulo
Keyword(s):  
Chagas Disease ◽  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Tropical Disease ◽  
Neglected Tropical Disease ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
Road Map ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First World

The first-ever World Chagas Disease Day, celebrated in April 14, 2020, is a key initiative to raise awareness of the impact of this neglected tropical disease (NTD). This landmark comes along with the first World NTD Day and the new WHO Road Map on NTDs for 2021-2030.

scholarly journals When, Who, and How to Sample: Designing Practical Surveillance for 7 Neglected Tropical Diseases as We Approach Elimination

2020 ◽  
Vol 221 (Supplement_5) ◽  
pp. S499-S502
Author(s):  
Jaspreet Toor ◽  
Luc E Coffeng ◽  
Jonathan I D Hamley ◽  
Claudio Fronterre ◽  
Joaquin M Prada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visceral Leishmaniasis ◽  
Lymphatic Filariasis ◽  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Tropical Disease ◽  
Spatial Sampling ◽  
Neglected Tropical Disease ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
Sampling Schemes ◽  
Special Collection ◽  
Low Prevalence

Abstract As neglected tropical disease programs look to consolidate the successes of moving towards elimination, we need to understand the dynamics of transmission at low prevalence to inform surveillance strategies for detecting elimination and resurgence. In this special collection, modelling insights are used to highlight drivers of local elimination, evaluate strategies for detecting resurgence, and show the importance of rational spatial sampling schemes for several neglected tropical diseases (specifically schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminths, lymphatic filariasis, trachoma, onchocerciasis, visceral leishmaniasis, and gambiense sleeping sickness).

scholarly journals Neglected tropical disease control in a world with COVID-19: an opportunity and a necessity for innovation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon J Brooker ◽  
Kundai Ziumbe ◽  
Nebiyu Negussu ◽  
Siobhan Crowley ◽  
Mona Hammami
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
Mathematical Modelling ◽  
Disease Control ◽  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Neglected Tropical Disease ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
Control Programmes

Abstract Countries have seen substantial disruptions to usual health services related to coronavirus disease 2019 and these are likely to have immediate and long-term indirect effects on many disease control programmes, including neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The pandemic has highlighted the usefulness of mathematical modelling to understand the impacts of these disruptions and future control measures on progress towards 2030 NTD goals. The pandemic also provides an opportunity, and a practical necessity, to transform NTD programmes through innovation.

scholarly journals Use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Discovery of Drugs for Neglected Tropical Diseases

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Tropical Disease ◽  
Neglected Tropical Disease ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
Entry Barrier ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Technological Developments

Neglected tropical diseases continue to create high levels of morbidity and mortality in a sizeable fraction of the world’s population, despite ongoing research into new treatments. Some of the most important technological developments that have accelerated drug discovery for diseases of affluent countries have not flowed down to neglected tropical disease drug discovery. Pharmaceutical development business models, cost of developing new drug treatments and subsequent costs to patients, and accessibility of technologies to scientists in most of the affected countries are some of the reasons for this low uptake and slow development relative to that for common diseases in developed countries. Computational methods are starting to make significant inroads into discovery of drugs for neglected tropical diseases due to the increasing availability of large databases that can be used to train ML models, increasing accuracy of these methods, lower entry barrier for researchers, and widespread availability of public domain machine learning codes. Here, the application of artificial intelligence, largely the subset called machine learning, to modelling and prediction of biological activities and discovery of new drugs for neglected tropical diseases is summarized. The pathways for the development of machine learning methods in the short to medium term and the use of other artificial intelligence methods for drug discovery is discussed. The current roadblocks to, and likely impacts of, synergistic new technological developments on the use of ML methods for neglected tropical disease drug discovery in the future are also discussed.

scholarly journals Coinfections between Persistent Parasitic Neglected Tropical Diseases and Viral Infections among Prisoners from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilian Da Silva Santos ◽  
Hans Wolff ◽  
François Chappuis ◽  
Pedro Albajar-Viñas ◽  
Marco Vitoria ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Viral Infections ◽  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Parasitic Infections ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
Prevalence Rates ◽  
Chronic Hbv ◽  
Sub Saharan

In Swiss prisons, more than 70% of detained people are foreigners and over one-third originate from sub-Saharan Africa or Latin America. These two regions are endemic for various tropical diseases and viral infections, which persist after migration to nonendemic countries. Parasitic infections (schistosomiasis; strongyloidiasis) and cooccurrent viral infections (HIV, hepatitis B (HBV), and hepatitis C (HCV)) are especially of concern for clinical care but have been neglected in empirical research. These diseases often remain silent for years before causing complications, especially if they occur concomitantly. Our research aimed to study the prevalence rates and coinfections of two neglected tropical diseases, namely, Strongyloides stercoralis and Schistosoma sp. and viral infections among sub-Saharan Africans (SSA) and Latin Americans (LA) in Switzerland’s largest pretrial prison. We carried out a cross-sectional prevalence study using a standardized questionnaire and serological testing. Among the 201 participants, 85.6% were SSA and 14.4% LA. We found the following prevalence ratios: 3.5% of HIV (4.1% in SSA, 0% in LA), 12.4% of chronic HBV (14.5% in SSA, 0% in LA), 2.0% of viraemic HCV (1.7% in SSA, 3.4% in LA), and 8.0% of strongyloidiasis (8.1% in SSA, 6.9% in LA). The serological prevalence of schistosomiasis among SSA was 20.3% (not endemic in Latin America). Two infections were simultaneously detected in SSA: 4.7% were coinfected with schistosomiasis and chronic HBV. Four other coinfections were detected among SSA: schistosomiasis-HIV, HIV-chronic HBV, HIV-HCV, and schistosomiasis-strongyloidiasis. To conclude, the high prevalence rates of persistent viral and parasitic infections and their potential coinfections among SSA and LA detained migrants highlight the need to implement control strategies and programs that reach people in detention centers in nonendemic countries.

scholarly journals LAMP in Neglected Tropical Diseases: A Focus on Parasites

Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 521
Author(s):  
Juan García-Bernalt Diego ◽  
Pedro Fernández-Soto ◽  
Antonio Muro
Keyword(s):  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Treatment Success ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Nucleic Acid Amplification ◽  
Molecular Diagnostic ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
World Population ◽  
Major Public Health Problem ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
Early 21St Century

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), particularly those caused by parasites, remain a major Public Health problem in tropical and subtropical regions, with 10% of the world population being infected. Their management and control have been traditionally hampered, among other factors, by the difficulty to deploy rapid, specific, and affordable diagnostic tools in low resource settings. This is especially true for complex PCR-based methods. Isothermal nucleic acid amplification techniques, particularly loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), appeared in the early 21st century as an alternative to PCR, allowing for a much more affordable molecular diagnostic. Here, we present the status of LAMP assays development in parasite-caused NTDs. We address the progress made in different research applications of the technique: xenomonitoring, epidemiological studies, work in animal models and clinical application both for diagnosis and evaluation of treatment success. Finally, we try to shed a light on the improvements needed to achieve a true point-of-care test and the future perspectives in this field.

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