Chagas disease, leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness affect 20 million people worldwide and lead to more than 50,000 deaths annually. The diseases are caused by infection with the kinetoplastid parasites Trypanosoma cruzi, Leishmania spp. and Trypanosoma brucei spp., respectively. These parasites have similar biology and genomic sequence, suggesting that all three diseases could be cured with drug(s) modulating the activity of a conserved parasite target. However, no such molecular targets or broad spectrum drugs have been identified to date.

hagas disease is a parasitic infection due to Trypanosoma cruzi that is endemic in Latin America, where Triatominae vectors are present. The parasite, multiplying inside various cell types, disseminates into its vertebrate host as blood trypomastigotes, and can be transmitted through blood transfusion as well as by organ transplantation or congenitally. Due to important migration of chronically infected people from LA, Chagas disease is now encountered in non-endemic countries as well.

Up-to-date evidence about levels and trends in disease and injury incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability (YLDs) is an essential input into global, regional, and national health policies. In the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 (GBD 2013), we estimated these quantities for acute and chronic diseases and injuries for 188 countries between 1990 and 2013.

Vector-borne transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi is seen exclusively in the Americas where an estimated 8 million people are infected with the parasite. Significant research in southern Peru has been conducted to understand T. cruzi infection and vector control, however, much less is known about the burden of infection and epidemiology in northern Peru.

Recently published prevalence estimates of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in five Latin American countries—Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela—could suggest a new direction for United States foreign policy in the region. (Editorial)

Infectious diseases of poverty, also labeled tropical diseases or neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and caused by pathogenic agents (viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other parasites), are viciously more prevalent among poor people. Though being preventable for the most part in a cost-effective way, they are devastating. These are, to name a few, Chagas disease, schistosomiasis, malaria, leprosy, visceral leishmaniasis, lymphatic filariasis, Buruli ulcer, and onchocerciasis.

Data on insecticide use for vector control are essential for guiding pesticide management systems on judicious and appropriate use, resistance management, and reduction of risks to human health and the environment. The researchers studied the global use and trends of insecticide use for control of vector-borne diseases for the period 2000 through 2009.

Insects are the pre-eminent form of metazoan life on land, with as many as 1018 individuals alive at any one instant and over three-quarters of a million species described. Although it is estimated that there are as many as 14,000 species that are blood feeders, only three to 400 species regularly attract our attention. Some of these are of immense importance to us, as vector-borne diseases still form a huge burden on both the human population and our domesticated animals.

Worm infestations, food parasites, Chagas disease, sand fly-transmitted infections and other neglected tropical diseases usually found in Africa and Asia are turning up more often in Europe, accord

Traditionally, epidemiologists have considered electrification to be a positive factor. In fact, electrification and plumbing are typical initiatives that represent the integration of an isolated population into modern society, ensuring the control of pathogens and promoting public health.

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