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Emerging Tropical Diseases

Tropical diseases are historically neglected at the community, national, and international levels and are endemic in many under-developed and developing countries. They affect populations living in poverty especially without proper sanitation and in close contact with various infectious vectors and disease causing livestocks and causes significant health and financial burdens across underdeveloped nations and widely impacts their socio-economic statuses. Neglected tropical diseases are caused by bacteria, virus, parasites, helminthes, protozoans etc. These including lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, and soil-transmitted helminthiasis, represent a serious burden to public health. Unlike many public-health risks, such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV, the burden of human suffering caused by neglected tropical diseases remains poorly recognised by the global public-health community. The World Health Organization warned in its 2007 report that infectious diseases are emerging at a rate that has not been seen before. Since the 1970s, about 40 infectious diseases have been discovered, including SARS, MERS, Ebola, chikungunya, avian flu, swine flu, Zika and most recently a new coronavirus. With people traveling much more frequently and far greater distances than in the past, living in more densely populated areas, and coming into closer contact with wild animals, the potential for emerging infectious diseases to spread rapidly and cause global epidemics is a major concern. Additionally, there is the potential for diseases to emerge as a result of deliberate introduction into human, animal, or plant populations for terrorist purposes, as discussed in the section on Bioterrorism Agents. These diseases include anthrax, smallpox, and tularemia.

Last Updated on: Jul 03, 2024

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