Governments and philanthropic organizations collectively pour hundreds of millions of dollars annually into the prevention and treatment of a select group of life-threatening infectious diseases that includes malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis. The merits of these high-profile programs are indisputable, yet emerging interest in traditionally neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) suggests that the...

Chromoblastomycosis (CMB) is a chronic fungal infection of the skin and the subcutaneous tissue caused by a transcutaneous traumatic inoculation of a specific group of dematiaceous fungi occurring mainly in tropical and subtropical zones worldwide. If not diagnosed at early stages, patients with CBM require long term therapy with systemic antifungals, sometimes associated with physical methods....

Chagas disease which is caused by the haemoflagellate Trypanosoma cruzi is classically transmitted by Reduviid bugs of the genera Triatoma and Rhodnius and occurs when the bugs bite humans and pass infective trypomastigotes in their stools which enter the blood through puncture wound in the skin (1). Chagas disease has been recognized as a neglected tropical disease with between eight and nine ...

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases is an open-access community journal that serves the needs of a small but active and robust community of neglected tropical disease (NTD) scientists, clinicians, and public health and policy experts. As stewards of that community, our editorial staff has very much molded the journal according to what we have learned from you in terms of mission, priorities, and s...

Abstract The Ascend West and Central Africa programme, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) is supporting integrated preventative chemotherapy for up to five neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), including intestinal worms, lymphatic filariasis, river blindness, trachoma schistosomiasis. programme implemented across 13 countries a consortium of four leading internation...

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have emerged as a global pledge to 'leave no one behind'. Under SDG 3, 'Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all', target 3.3 extends the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) beyond HIV, TB and malaria to 'end the epidemic' of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by 2030. Other targets are also relevant to NTDs, especially 3.8 (Universal Health Co...

Mycetoma is a tropical disease which is caused by a taxonomically diverse range of actinomycetes (actinomycetoma) and fungi (eumycetoma). The disease was only recently listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a neglected tropical disease (NTD). This recognition is the direct result of a meeting held in Geneva on February 1, 2013, in which experts on the disease from around the world met...

Mathematical and computational modeling can transform decision making for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) if the right model is used for the right question. Modeling can help better understand and address the complex systems involved in making decisions for NTD prevention and control. However, all models, modelers, and modeling are not the same. Thus, decision makers need to better understan...