Podoconiosis or 'endemic non-filarial elephantiasis' is a tropical disease caused by exposure of bare feet to irritant alkaline clay soils. This causes an asymmetrical swelling of the feet and lower limbs due to lymphoedema. Podoconiosis has a curable pre-elephantiasic phase. However, once elephantiasis is established, podoconiosis persists and may cause lifelong disability. The disease is asso...

While global programs targeting the control or elimination of five of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)-lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, schistosomiasis and trachoma-are well underway, they still face many operational challenges. Because of the urgency of 2020 program targets, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Dev...

Southern Sudan has been ravaged by decades of conflict and is thought to have one of the highest burdens of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in the world. Health care delivery, including efforts to control or eliminate NTDs, is severely hampered by a lack of infrastructure and health systems. However, the post-conflict environment and Southern Sudan's emerging health sector provide the unprec...

A new generation of vaccines for the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) have now advanced into clinical development, with the Na-GST-1/Alhydrogel Hookworm Vaccine already being tested in Phase 1 studies in healthy adults. The current manuscript focuses on the often overlooked critical aspects of NTD vaccine product development, more specifically, vaccine stability testing programs. A key measur...

Background Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) is a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) targeted for elimination. The declining prevalence of infection will change the demands on health systems to effectively detect cases. Detection of HAT currently relies on vertical surveillance programs where patients are identified in their villages and then required to travel long distances to HAT treatment c...

Earth observation (EO) is the use of remote sensing and in situ observations to gather data on the environment. It finds increasing application in the study of environmentally modulated neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Obtaining and assuring the quality of the relevant spatially and temporally indexed EO data remain challenges. Our objective was to review the Earth observation products curre...

BACKGROUND Community drug distributors or neglected tropical disease (NTD) volunteers have played a crucial role in ensuring the success of mass drug administration (MDA) programs using preventive chemotherapy (PC) for lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma and soil transmitted helminths. In recent years however, a noticeable decline in motivation of some of these volun...

Rebecca M. Flueckiger, Emory University Birgit Nikolay, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Huub C. Gelderblom, Emory University Jennifer L. Smith, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Danny Haddad, Emory University Wesley Tack, Avia GIS Guy Hendrickx, Avia GIS David Addiss, Emory University Jorge Cano, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Danny R. Hatcher, Environmenta...

Since our launch in October 2004, PLoS Medicine has published a policy and review section dedicated to neglected diseases. Its focus has been on the chronic tropical infections, mostly parasitic and bacterial, that burden the world’s poorest people and that are also a major cause of global poverty. The many ways in which these diseases have been sidelined are well documented [1], and our main a...

conclusions schistosomiasis is one of the major tropical and communicable diseases in the eastern mediterranean region (emr). however, today it is eliminated in iran by schistosomiasis control practices. results on the basis of our results, using a national program for schistosomiasis control based on active and passive case finding, snail control programs, education of people, conducting train...