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PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2021 May 24;15(5):e0009416. Epub 2021 May 24.

School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is the most common type of leishmaniasis, a neglected tropical disease caused by parasites of the genus Leishmania. In Ghana, some studies in the Volta region have detected Leishmania parasites among persons with skin ulcers.

Methodology/principal Findings: Using a cross-sectional study design, the prevalence of CL in three communities of the Oti Region of Ghana was investigated. Read More

Am J Trop Med Hyg 2021 May 3. Epub 2021 May 3.

1Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.

Successful achievement of global targets for elimination of trachoma as a public health problem and eradication of yaws will require control efforts to reach marginalized populations, including refugees. Testing for serologic evidence of transmission of trachoma and yaws in residents of registered camps and a Makeshift Settlement in Cox's Bazar District, Bangladesh, was added to a serosurvey for vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) conducted April-May 2018. The survey was primarily designed to estimate remaining immunity gaps for VPDs, including diphtheria, measles, rubella, and polio. Read More

Biomed Rep 2021 Jun 6;14(6):53. Epub 2021 Apr 6.

Dengue Study Group, Institute of Tropical Disease, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, East Java 60115, Indonesia.

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, some countries, including Indonesia, have faced a double burden with regards to disease control. As Indonesia is a tropical country, it serves as a suitable host for disease vectors and multiple microorganisms of causative agents of disease. In total, five of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) should be a consideration in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic, including leprosy, yaws, filariasis, soil-transmitted helminths and schistosomiasis. Read More

BMJ Open 2021 04 2;11(4):e047530. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Centre for Research on Filariasis and other Tropical Diseases (CRFilMT), Yaounde, Cameroon.

Introduction: The first visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis cases were reported in Cameroon since more than six decades. However, interest in the disease has decreased over time and data on its epidemiology across the country are scanty. This systematic review aims to update data on what is known and done so far on leishmaniasis in Cameroon. Read More

Emerg Infect Dis 2021 Apr;27(4):1123-1132

We confirmed endemicity and autochthonous transmission of yaws in Liberia after a population-based, community-led burden estimation (56,825 participants). Serologically confirmed yaws was rare and focal at population level (24 cases; 2.6 [95% CI 1. Read More

EBioMedicine 2021 Mar 12;65:103281. Epub 2021 Mar 12.

Fight Aids and Infectious Diseases Foundation, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain; Lihir Medical Centre-International SOS, Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea. Electronic address:

Background: Penicillin G, the current standard treatment for syphilis, has important drawbacks, but virtually no preclinical or clinical studies have been performed to identify viable alternatives. We tested, both in vitro and in vivo, three marketed antibiotics with adequate pharmacological properties to treat syphilis.

Methods: We used an in vitro culturing system of T. Read More

Int Health 2021 Mar 10. Epub 2021 Mar 10.

International Trachoma Initiative, The Task Force for Global Health, PO Box 10001, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

There have been various infectious disease eradication programs implemented in various parts of the world with varying degrees of success since the early 1900s. Of all those programs, the one that achieved monumental success was the Smallpox Eradication Program (SEP). Most of the global health leaders and authorities that came up with the new idea of disease eradication in the 1980s tried to design and shape the new programs based on their experience in the SEP. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2021 Mar 3;15(3):e0009157. Epub 2021 Mar 3.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.

Buruli ulcer (BU) is a disabling and stigmatising neglected tropical disease (NTD). Its distribution and burden are unknown because of underdiagnosis and underreporting. It is caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, an environmental pathogen whose environmental niche and transmission routes are not fully understood. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2021 02 16;15(2):e0009180. Epub 2021 Feb 16.

Centre Pasteur du Cameroun, Yaounde, Cameroon.

Outbreaks of yaws-like ulcerative skin lesions in children are frequently reported in tropical and sub-tropical countries. The origin of these lesions might be primarily traumatic or infectious; in the latter case, Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue, the yaws agent, and Haemophilus ducreyi, the agent of chancroid, are two of the pathogens commonly associated with the aetiology of skin ulcers. In this work, we investigated the presence of T. Read More

J Clin Microbiol 2021 Apr 20;59(5). Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

WHO and its partners aim to interrupt yaws transmission in countries of endemicity and to certify others as being yaws-free. Transmission can be assessed using rapid plasma reagin (RPR) tests, reflecting current or recent infection, but RPR is operationally impractical. We evaluated changes in antibody levels against two recombinant treponemal antigens, rp17 (also known as Tp17) and TmpA, after antibiotic treatment given as part of a randomized controlled trial for yaws in Ghana and Papua New Guinea. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2021 01 26;15(1):e0008812. Epub 2021 Jan 26.

Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.

Background: An effective syphilis vaccine should elicit antibodies to Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (T. p. Read More

mBio 2021 01 12;12(1). Epub 2021 Jan 12.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.

Exudative cutaneous ulcers (CU) in yaws-endemic areas are associated with subsp. (TP) and (HD), but one-third of CU cases are idiopathic (IU). Using mass drug administration (MDA) of azithromycin, a yaws eradication campaign on Lihir Island in Papua New Guinea reduced but failed to eradicate yaws; IU rates remained constant throughout the campaign. Read More

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2020 12 31;8(12):e22478. Epub 2020 Dec 31.

Prevention, Treatment and Care Unit, Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases, World Health Organization, Geneve, Switzerland.

Background: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) represent a diverse group of 20 communicable diseases that occur in tropical and subtropical areas in 149 countries, affecting over 1 billion people and costing developing economies billions of dollars every year. Within these diseases, those that present lesions on the skin surface are classified as skin NTDs (sNTDs). Mobile health interventions are currently being used worldwide to manage skin diseases and can be a good strategy in the epidemiological and clinical management of sNTDs. Read More

Dermatol Clin 2021 Jan 31;39(1):83-90. Epub 2020 Oct 31.

Department of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, 50 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Electronic address:

In resource-limited settings, point-of-care diagnostic devices have the potential to reduce diagnostic delays and improve epidemiologic surveillance of dermatologic conditions. We outline novel-point-of care diagnostics that have recently been developed for dermatologic conditions that primarily affect patients living in resource-limited settings, namely, Kaposi sarcoma, cutaneous leishmaniasis, leprosy, Buruli ulcer, yaws, onchocerciasis, and lymphatic filariasis. All of the technologies described in this article are prototypes, and some have undergone field testing. Read More

Dermatol Clin 2021 Jan 31;39(1):15-22. Epub 2020 Oct 31.

Fight AIDS and Infectious Diseases Foundation, Badalona, Catalonia, Spain; Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Cutaneous ulcers in the tropics are a painful and debilitating condition that anchors people into poverty. In rural regions of the South Pacific, infectious cutaneous ulcers are caused mainly by bacteria, including Treponema pallidum pertenue (yaws), Haemophilus ducreyi, and polymicrobial ulcers. For this group of infections the term cutaneous ulcer disease (CUD) is proposed. Read More

Microb Genom 2020 11;6(11)

Viral Evolution, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany.

Many non-human primate species in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with subsp. , the bacterium causing yaws in humans. In humans, yaws is often characterized by lesions of the extremities and face, while subsp. Read More

Emerg Infect Dis 2020 11;26(11):2685-2693

Yaws is a neglected tropical disease targeted for eradication by 2030. To achieve eradication, finding and treating asymptomatic infections as well as clinical cases is crucial. The proposed plan, the Morges strategy, involves rounds of total community treatment (i. Read More

Zootaxa 2020 Jun 15;4791(1):zootaxa.4791.1.1. Epub 2020 Jun 15.

Centre for Environmental Research and Studies, Jazan University, P.O. Box 2095, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Chloropidae are of major economic importance, since the larvae of some species are pests of cereals and grasses, some are parasitoids and predators, and adults of some Hippelates spp. visit and transmit or are suspected of transmitting yaws sores in man and animals and by feeding around the eyes are vectors of Brazilian Purpuric Fever. Within the framework of the exploration of the biodiversity of Diptera in Southwest Saudi Arabia a survey of the grass flies fauna in 18 sites in Jazan, Asir, and Najran in south-western Saudi Arabia was performed mainly using Malaise traps and sweep nets from 2010- to 2016. Read More

Trop Med Infect Dis 2020 Oct 6;5(4). Epub 2020 Oct 6.

Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi AK-312, Ghana.

Yaws is a skin debilitating disease caused by subspecies with most cases reported in children. World Health Organization (WHO) aims at total eradication of this disease through mass treatment of suspected cases followed by an intensive follow-up program. However, effective diagnosis is pivotal in the successful implementation of this control program. Read More

J Parasitol Res 2020 24;2020:8890998. Epub 2020 Sep 24.

Ga North Municipal Health Directorate, Ofankor-Accra, Greater Accra Region, Ghana.

Ga West Municipality in Ghana is predominantly rural with about forty-eight hard-to-reach communities. Several infectious diseases such as Buruli ulcer, tuberculosis, yaws, schistosomiasis, and malaria are prevalent in the municipality. However, the prevalence and characteristics of enteroparasites in the municipality are unknown. Read More

Clin Infect Dis 2020 Aug 20. Epub 2020 Aug 20.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom.

Background: Pharmacokinetic data are a pre-requisite to integrated implementation of large-scale mass drug administration (MDA) for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). We investigated the safety and drug interactions of a combination of azithromycin (AZI) targeting yaws and trachoma, with the newly approved ivermectin, albendazole, diethylcarbamazine (IDA) regime for Lymphatic Filariasis.

Methodology: An open-label, randomized, 3-arm pharmacokinetic interaction study in adult volunteers was carried out in Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea. Read More

Curr Biol 2020 10 13;30(19):3788-3803.e10. Epub 2020 Aug 13.

Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland; Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Tübingen, Rümelinstrasse 19-23, 72070 Tübingen, Germany; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (S-HEP), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address:

Syphilis is a globally re-emerging disease, which has marked European history with a devastating epidemic at the end of the 15 century. Together with non-venereal treponemal diseases, like bejel and yaws, which are found today in subtropical and tropical regions, it currently poses a substantial health threat worldwide. The origins and spread of treponemal diseases remain unresolved, including syphilis' potential introduction into Europe from the Americas. Read More

Sci Rep 2020 06 11;10(1):9499. Epub 2020 Jun 11.

Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.

Developments in techniques for identification of pathogen DNA in archaeological samples can expand our resolution of disease detection. Our application of a non-targeted molecular screening tool for the parallel detection of pathogens in historical plague victims from post-medieval Lithuania revealed the presence of more than one active disease in one individual. In addition to Yersinia pestis, we detected and genomically characterized a septic infection of Treponema pallidum pertenue, a subtype of the treponemal disease family recognised as the cause of the tropical disease yaws. Read More

BMC Infect Dis 2020 Jun 3;20(1):392. Epub 2020 Jun 3.

Work Group Neglected Tropical Diseases, Infection Biology Unit, Deutsches Primatezentrum GmbH, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, 37077, Goettingen, Germany.

Background: The first yaws eradication campaign reduced the prevalence of yaws by 95%. In recent years, however, yaws has reemerged and is currently subject to a second, ongoing eradication campaign. Yet, the epidemiological status of Tanzania and 75 other countries with a known history of human yaws is currently unknown. Read More

Assist Inferm Ric 2020 Jan-Mar;39(1):47-56

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Introduction: Against the increasing recognition of the critical importance of a direct participation of community members to assure effective health care in peripheral areas of Middle and Low Income Countries (MLIC), representative field experiences of their essential role are only occasionally available.

Aims And Methods: We report a narrative, factual documentation of a spectrum of projects covering the basic and specific health needs of the disperse communities in Ecuador, a model MLIC, and discuss the broader implications of the role and performance of HPs over a long period, 1980-2018, in the project activation, implementation and monitoring. Read More

Emerg Infect Dis 2020 06;26(6):1283-1286

Yaws-like lesions are widely reported in wild African great apes, yet the causative agent has not been confirmed in affected animals. We describe yaws-like lesions in a wild chimpanzee in Guinea for which we demonstrate infection with Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue. Read More

New Microbes New Infect 2020 May 26;35:100670. Epub 2020 Mar 26.

Aix Marseille Univ, IRD, AP-HM, MEФI, Marseille, France.

  infections have been primarily known as slightly contagious mucocutaneous infections called yaws (tropical Africa and America) and bejel (subtropical North Africa). emerged as a highly infectious venereal syphilis agent in South America, probably about 500 years ago, and because of its venereal transmission, it quickly caused a worldwide pandemic. The disease manifests as lesions, including a chancre; then antibodies become detectable when or slightly after the chancre appears, and before the development of a rash and other systemic manifestations. Read More

J Trop Pediatr 2020 12;66(6):583-588

Centre for International Child Health, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3052, Australia.

Introduction: Congenital syphilis remains a significant cause of newborn mortality and long-term neurodevelopmental problems in some low- and middle-income countries. This study was done in Honiara, Solomon Islands to determine the incidence of babies born to mothers with a positive venereal disease research laboratory (VDRL) test and a positive Treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay (TPHA); to determine the VDRL status of newborns and features of congenital syphilis; and to estimate the proportion of stillbirths associated with syphilis.

Methodology: All neonates born to VDRL-positive mothers, including stillbirths were included between April and July 2019. Read More

Curr Biol 2020 06 30;30(11):2078-2091.e11. Epub 2020 Apr 30.

Department of Archaeogenetics (DAG), Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (MPI-SHH), Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany. Electronic address:

The forced relocation of several thousand Africans during Mexico's historic period has so far been documented mostly through archival sources, which provide only sparse detail on their origins and lived experience. Here, we employ a bioarchaeological approach to explore the life history of three 16 century Africans from a mass burial at the San José de los Naturales Royal Hospital in Mexico City. Our approach draws together ancient genomic data, osteological analysis, strontium isotope data from tooth enamel, δC and δN isotope data from dentine, and ethnohistorical information to reveal unprecedented detail on their origins and health. Read More

N Z Med J 2020 04 24;133(1513):53-60. Epub 2020 Apr 24.

Department of Ophthalmology, Auckland District Health Board, Auckland; Department of Ophthalmology, University of Auckland, Auckland.

Aims: To determine the demographic and clinical features of patients with ocular disease consistent with syphilis and positive treponemal serology in Auckland, and to compare patients who lived in a Pacific nation before 1960 with all other patients with regard to these features, considering a possible history of yaws infection.

Methods: Retrospective review of subjects seen in uveitis and neuroophthalmology clinics at Auckland District Health Board between January 2006 and June 2019.

Results: Two thousand four hundred and ninety-three subjects were reviewed in uveitis clinics during the timeframe, of whom 45 were diagnosed with syphilitic uveitis (1. Read More