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Why Arboviruses Can Be Neglected Tropical Diseases
10 Jul 2008
Paul Chinnock
Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
(see original article
)
Citation: LaBeaud AD (2008) Why Arboviruses Can Be Neglected Tropical Diseases. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2(6): e247.
© 2008 A. Desiree LaBeaud. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Opinions vary as to which of the infectious diseases of poverty receive adequate attention from researchers, policy makers and donors, and which are ‘neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)’. While malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, remain major threats to humanity they now receive a level of attention sufficient for them to be regarded as being no longer neglected. Lists of the infections still considered neglected are dominated by those due to parasites (helminths and protozoa) and bacteria. An article in PLoS Neglected Diseases now argues that arboviral infections should be added to the neglected list.
Arboviruses are viruses borne by arthropods (usually insects). The best known arboviral infections are dengue fever and yellow fever but there are many others; examples include Rift Valley fever and chikungunya. The World Health Organization (WHO) has already added dengue virus to its own list of NTDs but Angelle Desirée LaBeaud makes the case that, given their impact on some of the poorest people in the world, many other arbovirus infections are neglected.
According to Dr LaBeaud, ‘Poverty is an important determinant of arboviral infections, and even within wealthy industrialized nations, foci of arboviral transmission arise in pockets of poverty.’ She says that these diseases, can themselves contribute to poverty, ‘…perpetuating a vicious cycle of disease, poverty, and health care injustice.’
Dr LaBeaud cites recent outbreaks as examples of how, ‘…infections that were once under control, such as yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis, are now capable of returning with a vengeance to poor neighborhoods in both wealthy and impoverished nations.’
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