Myriad causes have been proposed for “nodding syndrome,” a deadly condition that has plagued children in war-torn areas of East Africa, bringing on progressive seizures and cognitive issues. Now, the first published study of victims’ brains links the condition to…
An Epi-Pen for snakebites may be in our midst, but it will take awhile to get here. Snakebites are deadly everyday threat in rural, tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America, killing around 100,000 a year and disabling some 400,000.
In poor countries, undiagnosed strep throat “can become a long, slow death sentence,” writes Denise Grady. Left untreated, rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease can follow, gradually degrading heart valves. Team Heart flies surgeons to Rwanda annually to perform…
Intensive interventions and clean water programs have stamped out guinea worm disease in countries like Nigeria and Kenya. Now that same playbook is being used to tackle neglected diseases in American South that fuel the cycle of poverty. Hookworm, which can cause…
For more than a year, China has withheld samples of the H7N9 avian flu virus from the US, despite a WHO agreement to exchange specimens, the The New York Times reports.
“Elimination of podoconiosis is achievable within one generation,” claim Kebede Deribe and colleagues. To do so, progress in research must continue and be met with robust implementation.
Only 10% of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases are genetically inherited, but 2 Appalachian families carrying a rare ALS-causing genetic mutation offer researchers the opportunity to investigate why some family members get the disease and some do not.
Neglected tropical diseases like waterborne Bilharzia, or Schistosomiasis, prey on Nigeria’s poor, rural communities—but the country’s ability to fight disease should not be underestimated, writes Mark Doyle.
Climate change’s definitive effects on infection rates of parasitic worms in humans are still hypothetical. What’s clear: There will be effects with potential to both help and hinder current control measures of infections in Africa and Asia. For example, temperatures and…
Without Oriol Mitjà, the bid to eradicate yaws likely would have faded. Nonfatal, but disfiguring, yaws often starts with a single ulcer that can spread to more lesions, and infect joints and bones. Targeted for eradication some 60 years ago, problems with the treatment—…
