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There are many questions regarding tropical diseases due to the extensive International travel. Passengers, whether they are business or pleasure, want to know what tropical diseases they may encounter at their destination and how to prepare for them. Here is a listing of popular questions regarding tropical diseases and the answers to them.

What is a “neglected tropical disease”?

Neglected tropical diseases are called that because they occur in the most impoverished populations of the developing world and are thus neglected because their governments cannot afford to treat the people who contract them. They do not normally flourish in areas where there is economic or healthcare support so they are isolated to the remote, rural, urban slums or conflict zones of developing areas of the world. They go mostly unnoticed by the more economically stable countries.

What exactly is dengue fever?

Dengue fever is a viral tropical disease transmitted by the bite of the Aedes mosquito that has been infected with one of four dengue viruses. The symptoms are flu-like and the disease is prone to be contracted by infants, young children and weakened adults.

What is African sleeping sickness?

It is technically called human African trypanosomiasis and is a widespread tropical disease transmitted by the infected tsetse fly. Individuals at risk are those who live in the rural areas of East, West and Central Africa or those who travel there.

How can we rid the world of leprosy?

There needs to be awareness programs aimed at the developing countries where leprosy is still an active tropical disease. The stigma attached to leprosy needs to be removed so individuals who have it can seek medical help. There needs to be adequate healthcare and drugs available to those who need it.

Should children be vaccinated against yellow fever?

Yes, the best way to prevent yellow fever is for those individuals who live in areas where yellow fever is active to be vaccinated against it. Individuals who are traveling to those areas should also receive the vaccination. The yellow fever 17 D vaccine is safe and is very effective if administered more than a week before exposure.

Is guinea worm caused by an actual worm?

The tropical disease guinea worm is indeed an actual worm. It is a large roundworm that can be ingested by drinking contaminated water. The disease is normally manifested by a painful blister on the leg.

Which mosquito transmits malaria?

Malaria is transmitted by the female anopheles mosquito. The disease is caused by a one-celled parasite (plasmodium) that they mosquito has picked up from infected people when they bite them.

What can I do to protect myself from tropical diseases?

Only drink bottled water while traveling internationally. Eat only well cooked food and skin any fruit you might eat. Never eat food that has been left out. Use quality sleeping nets and insect repellant. Do not go outside between dusk and dawn. Call your doctor for an appointment at least 6 weeks before leaving for a foreign country to receive any protection from tropical diseases in the area, that are available like antimalaria medicine, other preventatives like vaccinations.

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Tropical Diseases.

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Tags: african sleeping sickness, leprosy, Tropical Diseases, tsetse fly, yellow fever

Do these diseases sound 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 about these tropical diseases anymore. The reason is that industrialized countries do not usually have to deal with these diseases. 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 heard 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.

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 six 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.

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

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more informaton on Tropical Diseases.

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Tags: cdc, centers for disease control and prevention, leprosy, onchocerciasis, Tropical Diseases

Africa plays host to numerous tropical diseases including malaria, buruli ulcer, schistosomiasis, leprosy, filariasis, African trypanosomiasis, Ebola, Giardiasis, and African sleeping sickness to name a few.

It is little wonder than that the World Health Organization has so many programs in Africa that focus on prevention and control of tropical diseases. The programs focus on different diseases and may even have different objectives but the goals are the same, to end the suffering of the people of Africa.

The following information was gathered from www.afro.who.int/

Advocacy Social Mobilization’s mission is to strengthen the programs of Africa in order to plan and implement effective advocacy, social mobilization and communication strategies to support immunization.

The World Health Organization (WHO) intends to develop control and surveillance regarding Buruli Ulcer in Africa, to support control activities and case management of antibiotics, surgery and to help prevent future disabilities that occur from the disease through education, research and improved understanding of socio-economic implications that face the African people.

The Communicable Disease Surveillance and response (CSR) is a surveillance and response organization seeking to make regional, national and global awareness of Africa’s plight. The organization plans, monitors and evaluates program activities.

The Emerging, Re-emerging and Other Communicable Diseases (DDC) is a program that provides technical support to the countries of Africa, including training of health personnel, support regarding epidmiology and epidemic management, support needed for the countries of Africa regarding contingency stocks of drugs, vaccines and other supplies to prepare for the needs of epidemics.

The Regional Programme for the Elimination of Leprosy gives technical, managerial, and financial support to those African countries where leprosy is still a major threat.

An African program concerned with helping to control African Trypanosomiasis is: Programme Against African Trypanosomiasis (PAAT). The objective of the programme is “solving the trypanosomiasis problem within the broader context of food, security, human health, rural development and sustainable agriculture”

All of these programs whether they are educational in nature or medical have one thing in common and that is to help eliminate tropical diseases from Africa n countries. The programs help to inform citizens about the tropical diseases that plague them, they initiate programs that help to control the diseases, or set up ways to prevent the spread of disease. Some programs are even set up to help financially or to provide needed drugs, or medical supplies. The World Health Organization (WHO) is an instrumental force behind much of the programs Africa has. There are also academic institutions, drug companies and private companies who give aid to Africa some are associated with WHO and some act on their own.

WHO is a coordinating authority for health within the United Nations System. It provides leadership regarding global health matters; it sets standards, provides technical support to countries and monitors health trends.

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more informaton on Tropical Diseases.

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Tags: ebola, giardiasis, leprosy, Tropical Diseases, world health organization