Yaws is a tropical skin infection caused by Treponema pertenue, easily treated with antibiotics. Highly contagious, it can cause disability and debilitation if left untreated. WHO has proposed a second attempt to eradicate yaws, but funding and public interest may be lacking.
Yaws, also known as yaws, is a tropical skin infection that occurs in Africa, South America, East Asia, and the Caribbean. This condition is caused by infection with the spirochete Treponema pertenue and is easily treated with a single dose of antibiotics. The ease of treatment allowed the World Health Organization (WHO) to almost totally eradicate yaws in the 1970s, but unfortunately many nations did not have the resources to follow up and treat the last cases and by the 1990s the prevalence of yaws started to climb again.
This infection is highly contagious. People can get yaws through direct contact with infected individuals or from insects landing on infected individuals and then landing on uninfected individuals. The condition begins with an ulcer, known as a mother yaw, at the nip. Four to six weeks later, the sores appear on other regions of the body and develop a raspberry-like appearance, along with a white scab.
If yawing is not treated, the ulcers will penetrate to the bone. While the condition is not inherently fatal, it can cause disability and debilitation, and patients are at risk for secondary infections that can establish themselves around the ulcers. Yaws can also be quite painful and can lead to social isolation as the sores are cosmetically unappealing and people fear the risk of infection. Penetration into bone can paralyze people for life, even if they receive treatment.
Like other tropical diseases, yaw has proven difficult to eradicate because the nations where it is most commonly found lack the resources and manpower to combat yaw. Rural areas often suffer from a lack of quality medical clinic, and citizens may be afraid to seek treatment because they cannot afford it or fear getting secondary infections from other clinic patients, a common problem in countries with underfunded and poorly managed clinics . As a result, yawing spreads easily in rural communities, and as people travel, they bring the disease with them.
WHO has proposed a second attempt to eradicate yaws, focusing on reaching every single infected individual, as was done during the smallpox eradication campaign. However, since yaw is not deadly, the organization will likely have difficulty gaining funding and public interest in a yaw eradication campaign, despite the benefits to residents of tropical regions. Inexpensive antibiotics for the treatment of yaw are available in most tropical clinics, for patients undergoing the treatment.
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