Tropical Diseases Targeted for Elimination: Chagas Disease, Lymphatic Filariasis, Onchocerciasis, and Leprosy

Tropical diseases are infectious diseases that are found predominantly in the tropics, where ecological and socioeconomic conditions facilitate their propagation. Climatic, social, and economic factors create environmental conditions that facilitate transmission, and the lack of resources prevents affected populations from obtaining effective prevention and adequate care. Tropical diseases are diseases of the poor, and investments in control and research to develop more effective intervention tools and strategies have been minimal (Gwatkin, Guillot, and Heuveline 1999; Remme and others 2002). For some, however, effective intervention methods have been developed, and successful control has been achieved.

This chapter focuses on four tropical diseases—Chagas disease, lymphatic filariasis (LF), onchocerciasis, and leprosy—for which effective means of control are available. All four diseases are targeted for elimination as a public health problem. Control strategies are being implemented at scale and have already achieved a major reduction in the burden of disease, and the causative agent has even been eliminated in some previously endemic areas. Those successes have not come easily, and much remains to be done to ensure complete and sustained control of the diseases.