tropical diseases

(Public Library of Science) According to a new analysis published Sep. 24 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, neglected tropical diseases as a group may have surpassed HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as the most prevalent infectious diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean.

(Public Library of Science) Newborns in Brazil are more susceptible to toxoplasmosis than those in Europe, according to a recent study.

Researchers based in Austria, Brazil, Denmark, France, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom studied the disease's ocular effects in children from birth to four years of age.

Details are published Aug. 13 in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

(Public Library of Science) A study conducted in an urban slum setting in Salvador, Brazil has found that open sewers, accumulations of refuse, and inadequate floodwater drainage are acting as sources for transmission of the disease leptospirosis.

The study is published in this week's PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

One of the main obstacles towards progress in the developing world is the litany of tropical diseases affecting residents that have not been seriously addressed by the public health community.

This is the message of a new book, "Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases," published by ASM Press.