Trichuriasis

How to Cure 1 Billion People? Defeat Neglected Tropical Diseases

December 17, 2009

Sabin President Dr. Peter Hotez details how 1 billion individuals suffering from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) can be easily treated in “How to Cure 1 Billion People?—Defeat Neglected Tropical Diseases” released today in the January 2010 issue of Scientific American.

Key Concepts discussed in the article include:

A group of seven tropical diseases, mostly caused by parasitic worms, afflict a billion impoverished people worldwide. They seldom kill directly but cause lifelong misery that stunts children’s growth, leaves adults unable to function to their fullest, and heightens the risk of other diseases.

Fortunately, they can be easily treated, often with a single pill. Various agencies and foundations are collaborating to deliver these drugs, although they have reached only about 10 percent of the population so far.

The U.S. has its own neglected parasitic diseases that affect millions of rural and urban poor.

Access the full article on Scientific American's website here.

A Constitutional Amendment for Deworming

August 25, 2009

In February 2009, The Washington Post reported that three South American countries, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, have either launched or completed ambitious efforts to rewrite their constitutions in order to expand the social and economic rights guaranteed to its citizens [2]. The fact that millions of indigenous children and women in Latin America suffer from intestinal helminth infections is especially tragic because we can do something about these conditions through interventions that are astonishingly low cost [4].