Talk:Neglected tropical diseases

removal of false information

I corrected several wrong statements about protozan infections. Neither of the infections caused by trypanosomatids is transmited by a mosquito and there is no vaccine for Chagas disease as far as I know. Guido

You are correct; there is no Chagas vaccine, though HAT and Chagas are both transmitted by insect bite (but not mosquito, as you said) OcciMoron 02:55, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

Wikiproject?

Wikipedia could benefit from a neglected disease wikiproject. How does one go about starting one? OcciMoron 03:23, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

Nice thinking. Hmm.. Wikipedia:WikiProject is the obvious starting point.. but from the proposals page it sounds like you'd be better off starting a task force within an existing project like WikiProject Medicine. I guess the first thing to do is make this article part of that project somehow. —Pengo 14:05, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

Can you explain why you think a task force is a better idea? It's not entirely clear to me. OcciMoron 14:52, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals says: "If the scope of your project idea is very narrow (such as a TV show, music band, video game, etc), or your idea is a variation on a common theme, consider starting a task force of an existing project instead of a whole new WikiProject." I'm thinking that neglected diseases has a fairly limited scope. But then again, setting up a WikiProject still doesn't sound like such a bad idea to me either. So either way, really. —Pengo 13:57, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

From some brief work I've done in neglected disease, I can pretty safely say that it isn't all that narrow. Awareness of neglected disease is increasing, there are new governmental initiatives, a PLoS journal is launching in the fall dealing with NTDs specifically, etc. etc. Neglected disease has a lot of public policy and public health aspects that are as yet unrecognized by wikipedia, and there are other things too. If I find the time, I'll definitely try and turn this into a Wikiproject. OcciMoron 15:16, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Proposed Sections

I think that this page could benefit from descriptions of:

• Key Players in combating neglected diseases, specifically public, private, and academic groups in addition to public-private partnerships
• Some general facts about the disease burden of neglected diseases and geographic distribution
• A history of how these diseases came to be neglected; i.e., "history"
• The current state of neglected disease efforts
• How governments are responding

I will be trying to add these over time, but it will be a difficult process, so any help would be appreciated. If you need guidance, I have done a lot of fact-finding about NTDs, so just ask and I may be able to point you towards a source of information. OcciMoron 01:38, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

I've added the above to a "to do" list above. It's not as good as adding the actual information, but well.. it's a to do list. —Pengo 06:04, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Removing the cause

At the tropical disease talk i placed this section below; I think that the tropical disease article should be moved and altered as diseases occuring in the tropics have nothing to do with the climate (rather the reasons mentioned below have, and perhaps its true that certain organisms as mosquitos may survive only in the tropics; this still has nothing to do with the virus/bacteria itself; the mosquito only carries the bacteria/virus):

I think the tropical disease article should be moved. It is discriminating to use the term tropical disease; this implies that the diseases mentioned do not occur in temperate zone (which is incorrect; eg malaria was previously occuring in the Netherlands, leishmaniasis occurs in italy, ...) and the creation of this article further increases the insight of many that most of the diseases occur in the tropics; which is not accurate. Probably one of the key reasons why certain diseases still prevail in the tropics is because the pharmaceutical companies have only been intrested in eliminating diseases in the temperate (rich) countries (eg polio), and are now shifting to other lucrative problems (eg viagra). Other reasons are probably high population density (see this article) additional factors as weak hygiene and sanitation; which is a social/economical problem and has nothing to do with the climatological situation.

The first line for the neglected disease article should be something like: Neglected diseases are diseases that have been neglected by pharmaceutical companies and the local population and which are gaining ever more ground in large areas. Neglection by pharamaceutical companies is primarily the objection of making any vaccins or medicinal drugs against the diseases at all, while the indiginous population itself has not given enough attention to personal hygiene, protection from insect bites/stings, and a failure of setting up good sanitation (such as covered sewage canals, ...)

I think such article is far more fair and objective (does not put any group in favor; neither the west or the locals) and subtracts diseases from climate

I recommend that atleast the root causes are mentioned in the article; this article kinda places all the fault with the pharmaceutical companies, which too is not objective —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.245.173.181 (talk) 09:38, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

independence from 'tropics'

i agree that article should abstract from 'tropics' and neglected diseases are those plainly neglected by public attention from various reasons.

those can include i.e. inapropriate media attention, plain ignorance, or being 'taboo' related like STD's.

83.18.229.190 (talk) 09:38, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Picture of boy from Panama

Unfortunately, the caption reads, in part, "It has manifested as an acute infection with swelling of the right eye (chagoma)." Because this is a photograph, the boy's right and left are reversed, and it appears that his left eye is significantly larger than his right. I'm wondering if the picture should be re-reversed to accurately portray the eye swelling. Of course, a simpler solution would be to remove the reference to his "right" eye, which isn't particularly necessary or useful. Cuvtixo (talk) 12:32, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

I think people know that the right eye is on the left looking at a photograph. I'd be careful about not mentioning "right" eye. Try to get some input from a doc who knows about this Romana's sign. If its pathognomic, and maybe that's why it's on the Chagas page, then probably should be the same way it is on Chagas page. The Romana's sign is important, otherwise the pic doesn't seem particularly interesting. JuanTamad (talk) 00:10, 1 October 2016 (UTC)

I have no problems with the change, but just letting you know I copied the image and caption from the Chagas disease article so you might want to check that too. (Actually, it seems the caption was taken from CDC's Public Health Image Library, where the image was originally sourced.) —Pengo 01:50, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

Plans for Editing Article

I am an undergraduate student at Rice University in Houston, TX and am planning on editing this article as part of a Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities class. I would like to expand this article and add more information about the specific diseases and their sociological impact. I will try to address the “to do” list goals. I am also considering combining this page with the “Neglected tropical disease research and development” article. Does this seem like a good idea? I think there is a lot of information about neglected tropical diseases, but I don’t think that splitting the topic in two makes sense since both articles are missing a lot of important information. I plan on using scholarly articles as my sources.

I understand the reasoning behind removing the “tropical” aspect of neglected tropical diseases, but since this is a specific term for a category of diseases recognized by the WHO, CDC, and many researchers, that occur primarily in the tropics, I think it is better to keep the term “tropical” in the title. I will, however, research whether there are any other diseases that “neglected” by the neglected tropical disease category.

I would welcome any feedback that anyone has on this.Juliannadrew (talk) 21:58, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

I am also an undergraduate student at Rice University, currently thinking about continuing to edit this articles for the same class. I am interested in adding a section on how the United States is handling the increasing trend of NTDs within it's borders. I agree with Julianna that the to do list is important. I would like to add to those areas as well. I have found a lot of great scholarly articles on the topic. I am also considering adding a sub-section on Peter Hotez, as it seems that he has done the bulk of the work in the field. Let me know what you think of these proposed edits. Thanks!

Akweaver32 (talk) 01:47, 9 September 2016 (UTC)

Great! I am sure the article will benefit from your work. Just think carefully how you would add this additional information into the right place of the existing structure. Not sure what you want to include about Peter Hotez, as he already has his own Wikipedia page? One sentence and a link to his page might suffice? While you work on this article, how about adding one image for each of disease listed? That would be useful, I think. I also don't think the image for the lead is all that great. Perhaps a collage might be better, like we did for toilet in the lead section. EvMsmile (talk) 12:07, 9 September 2016 (UTC)

I like the collage idea. The boy image is good, could be one of the collage. JuanTamad (talk) 00:02, 1 October 2016 (UTC)

Summary of comments/feedback

Hi Julianna! I think the additions you have made to the article so far are great. You manage to maintain a neutral tone, keep good formatting, and include a variety of sources on the topic. My main criticisms are that the article needs more images (both photos and graphs to give the reader a comprehensive visual of the topic) and needs to be more comprehensive. I think you do a great job describing the diseases themselves (in terms of prevalence, symptoms, etiology, treatments, etc), but there is a lot more that could be said about the social and economic impact. For example, you mention that decreased school performance/attendance is a consequence of NTD’s. Can you expand more on that? What are the consequences of this decline in education for these already impoverished individuals? Are women more affected by NTD’s than men? What is the economic burden on developing countries due to loss of productivity from these diseases? Finally, I think the sections about the individual diseases could benefit from being organized into a table for ease of reading. I am excited to see where your article is headed!

LWang1991 (talk) 04:45, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

I also think it is a nice article. I also thought some more photos could be good, however there is the consideration that some of the diseases already have their own Wikipedia article, for example the disease soil-transmitted helminthiasis. Therefore, I would argue not to go into too much depth for that disease but to rather make sure people realise that they can find more information about that disease on the other Wikipedia page. Otherwise - if we described the disease also here in detail - then it would be doubling of efforts to keep both pages up to date.

Perhaps this page should rather focus more on the institutional aspects (why have these diseases been neglected), the global and national initiatives in place to tackle them, the costs it would take and the possible economic gains; the role of poor sanitation, poverty, inequity, gender issues - which is a root cause or compounding factor for many of these diseases.

So I guess what I am saying: rather than focussing more on each of these individual diseases in depth, look for the common elements for all of them in terms of preventation (and cure); e.g. access to safe sanitation would be one of them. EvM-Susana (talk) 11:24, 9 November 2014 (UTC)

Peer Review

Hi Julianna! Great job with your article! As far as editing, I think that more consistency with the complete sentences or not would be good and then consistency with the lists of information for each disease with the same topics in the same order would be greatly helpful to readability and formatting consistency. Also, I’m sure there are some great graphics showing disease, as well as maps which would really add to your article. Great job! Cnicholson12 (talk) 05:15, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

Put information on four causative pathogens back in

Someone deleted this part from the lead recently: These diseases result from four different causative pathogens: (i) Protozoa (Chagas disease, Human African trypanosomiasis, Leishmaniases); (ii) Bacteria (Buruli ulcer, Leprosy, Trachoma, Yaws), (iii) Helminth Cysticercosis/Taeniasis, Dracunculiasis, Echinococcosis, Foodborne trematodiases Lymphatic filariasis, Onchocerciasis, Schistosomiasis, Soil-transmitted helminthiases); and (iv) Virus (Dengue and Chikungunya, Rabies). I am not an expert on NTDs but this information and grouping seemed quite relevant for me. Shouldn't it be put back in? Perhaps not in the lead but somewhere in the article? EvM-Susana (talk) 20:32, 11 January 2015 (UTC)

Hi, you asked me to comment. I don't see any reason to exclude. It is in the article as of now. juanTamad (talk) 10:50, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

Great, thanks. Someone must have put it back in, that's good. EvMsmile (talk) 13:08, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

WHO list of 17 diseases does not include snakebite

The list had been reverted to a previous one that includes snakebite. I had changed it to match the 17 NTDs listed by the WHO, here. Seems to me that is most appropriate, especially since the sentence introducing the list says "The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the seventeen diseases below as neglected tropical diseases" and cites the same WHO website. The list did NOT include the foodborne trematodiases, which is how I arrived on this page; I was doing some work on those pages. (The foodborne trematodiases maybe deserve an article). There are articles in the medical literature expressing a rationale and call for including snakebite, and mention of that should be included somewhere, but seems to me the "official" list should be the 17 that the WHO has on the website until WHO decides to change it, otherwise the list seems to violate NOR. When I came across it a few days ago, I thought it must not have been updated in awhile. I don't see any reason to use different terms. It would be better that the diseases appear in the same order as on the WHO website, just for clarity I think. juanTamad (talk) 11:02, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for this explanation. Really glad you're taking an interesting in this page, that's great. I think it's a pretty important page. I had the impression that earlier editors had included also non-WHO type sources and definitions. It seems to be not totally clear cut. I liked the information about controversies, so yes, I think we should mention somehow this issue about snake bite (i.e. that WHO does not include it in the NTD list but other organizations do?). As to a page on foodborne trematodiases - sounds good; is it not covered by any of the existing helminthiasis sub-pages (there are so many of them, I lose track). EvMsmile (talk) 13:11, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

Incorrect information on praziquantel

{{request edit}} has been deprecated. Please change this template call to one of the following:

• For edit requests relating to a conflict of interest, please use {{edit COI}}.
• If you are partially-blocked from editing the page, please use {{edit partially-blocked}}.
• If the page is protected, use one of the following:
  • {{SPER}} for semi-protected pages
  • {{EPER}} for extended-confirmed protected pages
  • {{TPER}} for template-protected pages
  • {{FPER}} for fully-protected pages
  • {{IAER}} for interface admin protected pages

If you simply need to ask for help in making an edit, please change the template to {{help me}}. Dear all, There is a mistake in the following paragraph: "Merck has helped The African Programme for the Control of Onchocerciasis (APOC) and Oncho Elimination Programme for the Americas to greatly diminished the impact of Onchocerciasis by donating ivermectin.[10] They have also pledged to give 200 million tablets of praziquantel over 10 years." The donation of 200 million tablets is not done by Merck Sharpe & Dohme, it is a programme of Merck KGaA. Please see the following reference that you can also use for the article as well. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me. (Florian Schaub at Merck KGaA (talk) 16:47, 8 December 2015 (UTC))

 Done Altamel (talk) 21:22, 8 December 2015 (UTC)

Missing history?

This seems to be an important part of the history of NTD, missing in the article: Ken Warren and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Great Neglected Diseases Network, 1978–1988: The Transformation of Tropical and Global Medicine I found it while reading Neglected tropical diseases in the genomics era: re-evaluating the impact of new drugs and mass drug administration JuanTamad (talk) 17:13, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

Potential Bibliography

Keating, Conrad. “Ken Warren and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Great Neglected Diseases Network, 1978–1988: The Transformation of Tropical and Global Medicine.” Molecular Medicine, 2014, 24-30. Accessed September 22, 2016. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4374516/.

This article describes some history on of the fore-figures in NTD research and development, especially the work of Ken Warren with the Rockefeller Foundation. I would like to use this a base for a history of neglected tropical diseases. This section will also be supplemented by information from the book written by Peter Hotez, Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases.

Hotez, Peter J. Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases: The Neglected Tropical Diseases and Their Impact on Global Health and Development. Washington, DC: ASM Press, 2008.

This book is an extremely comprehensive review of the neglected tropical diseases and their impact. No doubt it is already a source for the Wikipedia article. I will use this book as a resource to add information to the diseases and the section on epidemiology.

Weiss, Mitchell G. "Stigma and the social burden of neglected tropical diseases." PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2, no. 5 (2008): e237.

This source will provide information for the section concerning the social impact of neglected tropical diseases. The article is specifically about how many of the diseases are associated with physically altering symptioms. These, in turn, lead to shunning, divorce, ostracization, and removal of social support for the people afflicted. It is one among the many reasons why NTDs are such a problem.

Litt, Elizabeth, Margaret C. Baker, and David Molyneux. "Neglected tropical diseases and mental health: a perspective on comorbidity." Trends in parasitology 28, no. 5 (2012): 195-201.

This article elaborates on the social consequences of NTDs. Specifically, the effects on the mental health of these diseases. I will use this source to flesh out the social impact section.

Hotez, Peter, Eric Ottesen, Alan Fenwick, and David Molyneux. "The neglected tropical diseases: the ancient afflictions of stigma and poverty and the prospects for their control and elimination." In Hot Topics in Infection and Immunity in Children III, pp. 23-33. Springer US, 2006.

This article also falls into the category of social impact. However, it extends into how the social impact effect their ability to control and cured. This may be applicable to the prevention section as well.

King, Charles H., and Anne-Marie Bertino. “Asymmetries of Poverty: Why Global Burden of Disease Valuations Underestimate the Burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases.” PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 2, no. 3 (2008). Accessed September 22, 2016. Doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000209.

The information in this section pertains to why neglected tropical diseases are neglected. It will also provide a breadth of statistics on the global burden of these diseases. I will use for the history as well as the statistical section that I mention in my proposal.

Mathers, Colin D., Majid Ezzati, and Alan D. Lopez. “Measuring the Burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases: The Global Burden of Disease Framework.” PloS Neglected Tropical Diseases 1, no. 2 (2007). Doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000114.

This is another article that will provide a summary of the global affliction by this family of diseases. It will also go into the epidemiology section, and perhaps the sections on the individual diseases. Trouiller, Patrice, Piero Olliaro, Els Torreele, James Orbinski, Richard Laing, and Nathan Ford. “Drug Development for Neglected Diseases: A Deficient Market and a Public-health Policy Failure.” The Lancet 359, no. 9324 (2002): 2188-194. Accessed September 22, 2016. Doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(02)09096-7.

This article concerns the drug market and its limitations. It will be used to add information to the economic impact, expanding it to cover the economics of treatment.

Brady, Molly A., Pamela J. Hooper, and Eric A. Ottesen. "Projected benefits from integrating NTD programs in sub-Saharan Africa." TRENDS in Parasitology 22, no. 7 (2006): 285-291.

This article will also contribute to the information on the economics of treatment. It will add to the already existing information in the article about the benefits of treatment programs. It is important to note that this article is specifically about sub-Saharan Africa.

Singer, Merrill, and Nicola Bulled. "Interlocked infections: the health burdens of syndemics of neglected tropical diseases." Annals of Anthropological Practice 36, no. 2 (2012): 328-345.

As stated in my proposal, one issue that I see as not covered comprehensively by the article is co-infection. It is one of the reasons why NTDs are so detrimental to the communitry that they infect. This and other articles will add to that section.

Lindoso, José AL, Ana CS Lima, Mirella A. Cunha, and Claudia MC Gomes. "Diagnosing Neglected Tropical Diseases in HIV Coinfection." Human Parasitic Diseases 7 (2015): 11.

One of the most under-recognized aspects of an already under-recognized problem is co-infection. Research, such as this article, has found that having some NTDs can increase one’s chances of becoming infected with another diseases. While this piece specifically talks about HIV, many other infections are possible.

Desforges, Jane F., and Louis V. Kirchhoff. “American Trypanosomiasis (Chagas’ Disease) – A Tropical Disease Now in the United States.” New England Journal of Medicine 329, no. 9 (1993): 639-44. Doi:10.1056/nejm199308263290909.

Another section that is becoming increasing relevant within the topic of neglected tropical diseases is their spread to the ‘developed’ world. Given that the topic has been receiving more attention since this trend started, it is important to cover as it may result in a large shift in the public policy surrounding the topic.

Hotez, Peter J. “Fighting Neglected Tropical Diseases in the Southern United States.” BMJ 345, no. 20 (2012). Accessed September 22, 2016. Doi:10.1136/bmj.e6304.

This article is specifically about techniques to be applied in the Southern United States. This region is complex because of the fact that these diseases almost exclusively affect the poorest among these communities.

Hotez, P. “Neglected Diseases Amid Wealth In The United States And Europe.” Health Affairs 28, no. 6 (2009): 1720-725. Accessed September 22, 2016. Doi:10.1377/hlthaff.28.6.1720.

Another article on how neglected tropical diseases are not confined to the ‘developing ‘ world. Will also go on to inform the content on NTDs in the ‘developed’ world.

Colatrella, Brenda. "The Mectizan Donation Program: 20 years of successful collaboration—a retrospective." Annals of Tropical Medicine & Parasitology (2013).

In this article, the author details the partnership between Mectizan, a pharmaceutical company, and the people that it donates to. I will use this source to add to information regarding the prevention. Although this is already a relatively well-developed section, I believe that more can be added.

Payne, Lara, and Joseph R. Fitchett. "Bringing neglected tropical diseases into the spotlight." Trends in parasitology 26, no. 9 (2010): 421-423.

Neglected tropical diseases are all united by the fact that they are neglected. Therefore, one of the most important topics of the related public policy is public awareness. This source outlines potential ways to accomplish this goal.

Spiegel, Jerry M., Shafik Dharamsi, Kishor M. Wasan, Annalee Yassi, Burton Singer, Peter J. Hotez, Christy Hanson, and Donald A. P. Bundy. “Which New Approaches to Tackling Neglected Tropical Diseases Show Promise?” PloS Med PloS Medicine 7, no. 5 (2010). Doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000255.

This article continues the information of the first. It will provide information for the prevention section as well. Specifically, the authors outline and assess the pros and cons of different strategies. As far as I can tell, the section on specific strategies is lacking. There is currently a lot of emphasis on the partnerships that are actually working in the field.

World Health Organization. Dept. of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases. Neglected Tropical Diseases, Hidden Successes, Emerging Opportunities. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2009. PDF.

This source is not a scholarly article. However, it is a comprehensive review of the current state of the diseases as assesses by the World Health Organization. It details the gains and losses in each disease with regards to the methods that are being used against them.

Please let me know if you have any further suggestions for sources. Akweaver32 (talk) 23:05, 25 September 2016 (UTC)

This is excellent! It looks like you're really putting a lot of work into this page. BSchilling (talk) 16:13, 7 October 2016 (UTC)