Yaws

Abstract

Yaws, a chronic skin, bone, and cartilage treponemal infection of rural tropical communities, causes mostly painless but stigmatizing lesions, some of which may become permanent disfiguring, crippling deformities. The palmar and plantar forms of yaws are, however, very painful. Yaws had clinical prevalence of 30 % or more in some communities before the mid-1960s and caused considerable rural poverty. A global eradication effort initiated by WHO in 1952 reduced the prevalence in endemic countries by over 95 % by 1965. But short of eradicating it, and given the poor health systems of endemic countries then, yaws started to resurge in the 1970s and has since been fought successfully by only Ecuador and India. Some sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, Southeast Asian countries, and Pacific Ocean Islands remain endemic. Children under 15 years, the most affected by yaws, continue to suffer deformities and, possibly, stigma, resulting in family and community neglect and some “dropouts” of school. Country and global goals for poverty reduction and universal education cannot be achieved if diseases like yaws continue to be neglected despite the availability of effective tools to eradicate or at least eliminate them.