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Ancient Brazilian genomes may hold the secrets of treponemal evolutionary history

Study reconstructs four ancient treponeme genomes from 2,000-year-old Brazilian remains, revealing their close relation to the bejel-causing Treponema pallidum endemicum and challenging previous hypotheses about treponeme subspecies adaptability.

25 Jan 2024

WHO and Sanofi sign new agreement to sustain specific efforts to eliminate NTDs

The World Health Organization (WHO) and Sanofi – one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies – have signed a new agreement for donations of medicines to sustain specific efforts to eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

16 Dec 2021

WHO issues new road map to tackle neglected tropical diseases

A new World Health Organization road map for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) proposes ambitious targets and innovative approaches to tackle 20 diseases which affect more than a billion mainly poor people and which thrive in areas where access to quality health services, clean water and sanitation is scarce.

1 Feb 2021

World Health Organization, Sanofi sign new agreement to eliminate neglected tropical diseases

15 Dec 2020

World Health Assembly endorses new road map for neglected tropical diseases for 2021−2030

Today, delegates attending the virtual session of the Seventy-third World Health Assembly overwhelmingly endorsed the new road map for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) for 2021−2030.

12 Nov 2020

Bioarchaeology research shows how infectious diseases may have spread 4000 years ago

New bioarchaeology research from a University of Otago PhD candidate has shown how infectious diseases may have spread 4000 years ago, while highlighting the dangers of letting such diseases run rife.

21 Sep 2020

Europeans could have been infected with syphilis before Columbus set sails to America

Columbus brought syphilis to Europe – or did he? A recent study conducted at the University of Zurich now indicates that Europeans could already have been infected with this sexually transmitted disease before the 15th century.

13 Aug 2020

Genomic analysis of medieval skeletons has important implications for syphilis history in Europe

Mass burials are common remnants of the many plague outbreaks that ravaged Medieval Europe. A number of these graveyards are well documented in historical sources, but the locations of most, and the victims they contain, have been lost to the pages of time. In Vilnius, Lithuania, one such cemetery was found in a typical way: accidental discovery during a routine city construction project.

12 Jun 2020

Scientists find wild African monkeys infected with bacterium that causes syphilis, yaws in humans

An international research team, led by scientists from the German Primate Center, the Robert Koch Institute, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, McGill University, Masaryk University, the University of Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, has successfully recovered genomes of the bacterium Treponema pallidum, which causes syphilis and yaws in humans, from wild nonhuman primate populations across sub-Saharan Africa.

20 Sep 2018

WHO marching toward extraordinary progress against neglected tropical diseases, report reveals

Since 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been reporting outstanding success in dealing with neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) with 1 billion people estimated to have received treatments in 2015.

19 Apr 2017

Treating animals may be part of global strategy to eradicate tropical diseases, study suggests

As the World Health Organization steps up its efforts to eradicate a once-rampant tropical disease, a University of Washington study suggests that monitoring, and potentially treating, the monkeys that co-exist with humans in affected parts of the world may be part of the global strategy.

12 Apr 2017

Scientists reveal new transmission path for yaws

Lesions on arms and legs, deformed faces - yaws is a tropical disease that infects the skin, bones and cartilage. It is caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue

3 Aug 2016

Case Western Reserve professor urges action to eliminate yaws

Half a century ago, a concentrated global effort nearly wiped a disfiguring tropical disease from the face of the earth. Now, says Case Western Reserve's James W. Kazura, MD, it's time to complete the work.

20 Mar 2015

WHO urges affected countries to increase investment in tackling neglected tropical diseases

WHO urges affected countries to scale up their investment in tackling 17 neglected tropical diseases in order to improve the health and well-being of more than 1.5 billion people. This investment would represent as little as 0.1% of current domestic expenditure on health in affected low and middle income countries for the period 2015-2030.

19 Feb 2015

Disease eradication efforts set sights on polio, Guinea worm

"It's not a race, exactly, but there's an intriguing uncertainty about whether a former U.S. president or a software magnate will cause the next deliberate extinction of a species in the wild. Will Jimmy Carter eradicate Guinea worm before Bill Gates eradicates polio?" Wall Street Journal commentator Matt Ridley asks in his "Mind & Matter" column.

13 Feb 2013

Devex interviews WHO NTD department director on roadmap for eliminating 17 diseases

"Lorenzo Savioli, director of WHO's department of neglected tropical diseases, spoke to Devex from Geneva in a phone interview on Wednesday, January 23, days after WHO released a progress report on its year-old roadmap to eliminate 17 tropical diseases," Devex's "Development Newswire" blog reports.

28 Jan 2013

2013 World Health Assembly should focus on new global rules, financing mechanisms for essential health

"This January marks the first anniversary of the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases -- a coordinated effort by endemic countries, non-governmental organizations, drug companies, and donors to improve the lives of more than a billion of the world's poorest people by the end of the decade," a Lancet editorial writes.

28 Jan 2013

WHO warns of dengue's spread, says progress made against NTDs in new report

"Dengue is the world's fastest-spreading tropical disease and represents a 'pandemic threat,' infecting an estimated 50 million people across all continents, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday," Reuters reports.

17 Jan 2013

WHO reports unprecedented progress against 17 neglected tropical diseases

WHO reports unprecedented progress against 17 neglected tropical diseases, thanks to a new global strategy, a regular supply of quality assured, cost-effective medicines and support from global partners.