What is Yaws?
• Yaws: A rare infections disease caused by the spiral-shaped bacteria Treponema pertenue. The disease consists of three phases: skin lesions are followed by bone, joint and widespread skin symptoms and finally by inflammation and destruction of cartilage in the nose, pharynx and palate. Transmission can be through direct contact with infected skin, insect bites or sex. • Yaws: An endemic, infectious, nonvenereal disease in humans that presents mainly in children younger than 15 years. The disease occurs primarily in warm, humid, tropical areas of Africa, Asia, South America, and Oceania, among poor rural populations where conditions of overcrowding and poor sanitation prevail. Infection with Treponema pertenue, a subspecies of Treponema pallidum, causes the disease. Source – Diseases Database • Yaws: an infectious tropical disease resembling syphilis in its early stages; marked by red skin eruptions and ulcerating lesions. Source – WordNet 2.1 Yaws is listed as a “rare disease” by the
Yaws, also known as frambesia, is a tropical skin infection which occurs in Africa, South America, East Asia, and the Caribbean. This condition is caused by infection with the spirochete Treponema pertenue, and it 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 lacked the resources to follow through and treat the last cases, and in the 1990s, the prevalence of yaws began to rise again. This infection is highly contagious. People can get yaws through direct contact with infected individuals, or from insects which alight on infected individuals and then land on uninfected individuals. The condition starts with an ulcer, known as a mother yaw, at the point of contact. Four to six weeks later, ulcers appear on other regions of the body, and develop a raspberry-like appearance, along with a white crust. If yaws is left untreated, the ulcers wil
Yaws is a chronic, contagious, non–venereal disease caused by the T pertenue and other various factors, usually beginning in early childhood. It resembles syphilis in its clinical features and is characterized by a primary skin lesion (mother Yaw) followed by a generalized eruption and a late stage of destructive lesions of the skin and bone. Yaws is also known as pian, bubas or framboesia. Geographic distribution and prevalence Yaws is exclusively confined to the belt of the Tropic of Cancer. Not long ago, it was a significant public heath problem in Africa, South–East Asia and Central America. Recent reports reveal marked variations in prevalence and patchiness in distribution in the former endemic areas. In Africa (e.g. Benin, Ghana and the Ivory Coast), there has been a great resurgence of Yaws. In the Americas, reported incidence of Yaws is very low with small foci remaining in Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Guyana and Surinam. In Asia, it occurs in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the
Yaws is a skin disease caused by a bacterium called Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue. It often starts as a single lesion of swelling on the skin, but without treatment it leads to multiple lesions all over the body. It causes pain but doesn’t kill patients, so little is heard about this disease. In the late stages, which are rare these days, it can lead to disabilities and disfigurement in 10% of untreated cases. The most prominent of these complications is the destruction of the nose. Q: Which parts of the world are affected by yaws? A: Sixty years ago the problem was in all tropical regions including northern Australia. Africa was the most affected area based on the most recent WHO estimates from the 1990s and we are yet to know the true scale of the problem there today. India reported its last cases in 2003, while Indonesia and Timor Leste still have some cases. Papua New Guinea and two other Pacific island countries, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have reported cases and there a
