Large numbers of the poorest Americans living in the United States are suffering from some of the same parasitic infections that affect the poor in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, says the Editor-in-Chief of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
In an article entitled “Poverty and Neglected Diseases in the ‘Other’ America,” Professor Peter Hotez (George Washington University and the Sabin Vaccine Institute) says that there is evidence that the parasitic diseases toxocariasis, cysticercosis and toxoplasmosis as well as other neglected infections are very common in the United States, especially among poor and underrepresented minority populations living in inner cities and poor rural areas. Such infections are known as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) because they afflict mostly poor people and are often ignored by public health officials and political leaders despite their enormous medical importance.
Toxocariasis, caused by the roundworm Toxocara canis, is now a common parasitic infection among inner city African-American and Hispanic children. Possibly as many as 23% of Americans living in poverty are exposed to this parasitic worm, in whom it causes a lung disease that resembles asthma, as well as liver and brain disease. Cysticercosis, caused by the tapeworm Taenia solium, is emerging as the leading cause of epilepsy among Hispanic populations in the US, and toxoplasmosis is an important cause of congenital birth defects among Mexican Americans and African Americans.
"Because these parasitic infections only occur among impoverished people and mostly underrepresented minorities in the US," he says, "I believe that there has been a lack of political will to study the problem. It is easier to allow these diseases of poverty to simply remain neglected."
In addition to the neglected diseases above, significant numbers of American schoolchildren living in poor areas may also be infected with other parasites, including Ascaris roundworms in the South, Strongyloides threadworms in Appalachia, Leishmania protozoan parasites in Texas, and the bacteria that cause leptospirosis.
"That reliable numbers on the actual prevalence of these neglected tropical diseases in the United States are simply not available is reflective of their neglected status, and their disproportionate impact on minorities and poor people," says Professor Hotez. "There is an urgent need to support studies that assess the disease burden resulting from these diseases in the United States, identify the minority populations at greatest risk, and identify simple and cost-effective public health solutions."
A related study in this week's journal, by Thomas Nutman (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA ) and colleagues, documents a sizeable number of imported cases to the US of parasitic worm infections (filarial infections) that are predominantly found in the developing world.
Dr. Nutman and colleagues examined data from The GeoSentinel Surveillance Network, a global network of medical and travel clinics established in 1995 to detect trends in illnesses among US travelers. Filarial infections, such as river blindness, elephantiasis, and African eyeworm comprised 0.62% (271) of the 43,722 medical conditions reported to the GeoSentinel Network between 1995 and 2004. Immigrants from filarial-endemic regions comprised the group most likely to have acquired a filarial infection; sub-Saharan Africa was the region of the world where the majority of filarial infections were acquired.
CONTACT:
Professor Peter Hotez
Walter G. Ross Professor and Chair
Department of Microbiology, Immunology, & Tropical Medicine
George Washington University
President, Sabin Vaccine Institute
Editor-in-Chief, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Ross Hall 736
2300 Eye Street NW
Washington DC 20037
Office Tel. 202-994-3532
Office Fax. 202-994-2913
Cellphone. 202-841-3020
Email: MTMPJH@GWUMC.EDU
CITATION: Hotez PJ (2007) Neglected Diseases and Poverty in ‘‘The Other America’’: The Greatest Health Disparity in the United States" PLoS Negl Trop Dis 1(3): e149. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000149
For the GeoSentinal Surveillance Network study:
CONTACT:
News and Public Information Branch
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health
Bldg. 31, Room 7A29
31 Center Dr., MSC 2520
Bethesda, MD 20892-2520
301-402-1663
niaidnews@niaid.nih.gov
PLEASE ADD THIS LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT:
http://www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000088
(link will go live on Wednesday, December 26, 2007)
CITATION: Lipner EM, Law MA, Barnett E, Keystone JS, von Sonnenburg F, et al. (2007) Filariasis in Travelers Presenting to the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 1(3): e88. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000088
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