Infectious Diseases

If you follow the news at all, you probably remember reports of occurrences of SARS, a respiratory illness caused by a particular strain of the corona virus. Hong Kong, China and other Asian destinations had reports of outbreaks and deaths. SARS stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and can be first publicly traced back to China in November of 2002.

Travel advisories to Hong Kong were issued around March 2003 by the World Health Organization because it was not known what the cause was at the time. By the end of July, almost 10,000 people were affected with almost 1,000 deaths, quite significant for industrialized areas.

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Not as well known as other tropical diseases, the Buruli ulcer is still an infection to be reckoned with. Caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, this bacterium is in the same family as the bacteria that cause leprosy and even tuberculosis, two infections more known worldwide.

Infection from this Buruli bacteria causes quite a bit of damage to the soft tissues and the skin with the formation of ulcers. These ulcerated areas usually occur on the arms or legs. If these Buruli ulcers are not treated in the early stages of the disease, sufferers not only have to live with ugly deformed skin but also considerable pain in the joints as well as partial immobility.

Unicef led a campaign between 1950 and 1970 to control Yaws and was largely successful as the disease was decreased by 95% by 1970. Due to the success of the program many communities integrated or dismantled the efforts all together and the disease became forgotton in most political arenas as other more pressing health concerns emerged.

The disease quickly started to regain foothold and in 1978 the World Health Assembly Resolution WHA 31.58 became effective in an attempt to renew control efforts over the disease. These attempts failed due to lack of political backing or resources. As of 1995 there still were no global efforts to control Yaws.

What is Yaws

Yaws is a disease that attacks the bone, cartilage and skin and occurs in poor communities where the weather is hot, humid and well.... tropical. Places where Yaws is seen are Africa, Asia and Latin America.

A recent PLOS published article reports that non-exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) more than doubles the risk of early postnatal HIV transmission in children of HIV-infected women.^[1] Non-exclusive breastfeeding is defined was defined as giving the child non-human milk, semi-solids or non-milk liquids, such as water in addition to the mother’s milk.

The study looked at 958 HIV-infected women and their infants in Lusaka, Zambia. All were encouraged to breastfeed exclusively to 4 months. Single-dose nevirapine, an antiretroviral ^[2], was provided to prevent transmission. The adoption of EBF was high with 84% of women reporting only EBF cumulatively to 4 months.

Cholera is still present in 58 countries as of 2001 where 185,000 cases were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). Ingesting contaminated water or food can put you at risk for contracting cholera.

Travelers to Brazil who follow the usual tourist itineraries and follow food safety recommendations should have low risk of contracting cholera. It is important to avoid drinking or eating in untreated water or uncooked or raw food. Travelers are not required to have vaccinations against cholera anymore.

Yellow Fever

Yellow fever is caused by mosquitoes and is a viral illness. The symptoms can vary and may resemble the flu. Yellow fever is common in sub-Saharan Africa and South America. Cases of yellow fever have been noted in young men exposed through occupation to the vector population in Brazil.