Neglected tropical diseases of oceania: review of their prevalence, distribution, and opportunities for control

Kline, Kevin, McCarthy, James S., Pearson, Mark, Loukas, Alex, and Hotez, Peter J. (2013) Neglected tropical diseases of oceania: review of their prevalence, distribution, and opportunities for control. PLoS Neglected Tropical Disease, 7 (1). e1755. pp. 1-9.

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Abstract

Among Oceania's population of 35 million people, the greatest number living in poverty currently live in Papua New Guinea (PNG), Fiji, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands. These impoverished populations are at high risk for selected NTDs, including Necator americanus hookworm infection, strongyloidiasis, lymphatic filariasis (LF), balantidiasis, yaws, trachoma, leprosy, and scabies, in addition to outbreaks of dengue and other arboviral infections including Japanese encephalitis virus infection. PNG stands out for having the largest number of cases and highest prevalence for most of these NTDs. However, Australia's Aboriginal population also suffers from a range of significant NTDs. Through the Pacific Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis, enormous strides have been made in eliminating LF in Oceania through programs of mass drug administration (MDA), although LF remains widespread in PNG. There are opportunities to scale up MDA for PNG's major NTDs, which could be accomplished through an integrated package that combines albendazole, ivermectin, diethylcarbamazine, and azithromycin, in a program of national control. Australia's Aboriginal population may benefit from appropriately integrated MDA into primary health care systems. Several emerging viral NTDs remain important threats to the region.

Item ID: 28513
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1935-2735
Keywords: albendazole; azithromycin; benzyl benzoate; diethylcarbamazine; ivermectin; article; bacterial infection; balantidiasis; cholera; cysticercosis; disease control; echinococcosis; ectoparasitosis; geographic distribution; helminthiasis; human; Japanese encephalitis; leprosy; leptospirosis; lymphatic filariasis; mycosis; neglected disease; nonhuman; Pacific islands; Papua New Guinea; poverty; prevalence; protozoal infection; public health problem; scabies; seroprevalence; single drug dose; strongyloidiasis; trachoma; treponematosis; tropical disease; yaws; bacterial infections; communicable disease control; humans; neglected diseases; Oceania; parasitic diseases; socioeconomic factors; virus diseases
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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Date Deposited: 20 Aug 2013 00:07
FoR Codes: 11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1108 Medical Microbiology > 110803 Medical Parasitology @ 100%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9201 Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions) > 920109 Infectious Diseases @ 100%
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