02788nas a2200385   4500000000100000008004100001260001600042653003900058653001900097653001000116653002000126653001900146653002400165653001100189653001100200653001800211653001200229653002800241653001300269653002100282653002200303653001600325653003000341100001200371700001600383700002100399700001200420700001500432245015900447856007700606300000900683490000600692520169000698022001402388       2008                            d  c2008 Sep 2410aAcquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome10aChagas disease10aChild10aCost of Illness10aHIV Infections10aHookworm Infections10aHumans10aIncome10aLatin America10aPoverty10aSchistosomiasis mansoni10aThinness10aTropical Climate10aTropical Medicine10aWest Indies10aWorld Health Organization1 aHotez P1 aBottazzi ME1 aFranco-Paredes C1 aAult SK1 aPeriago MR00aThe neglected tropical diseases of Latin America and the Caribbean: a review of disease burden and distribution and a roadmap for control and elimination.  uhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2553488/pdf/pntd.0000300.pdf  ae3000 v23 a<p>The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) represent some of the most common infections of the poorest people living in the Latin American and Caribbean region (LAC). Because they primarily afflict the disenfranchised poor as well as selected indigenous populations and people of African descent, the NTDs in LAC are largely forgotten diseases even though their collective disease burden may exceed better known conditions such as of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, or malaria. Based on their prevalence and healthy life years lost from disability, hookworm infection, other soil-transmitted helminth infections, and Chagas disease are the most important NTDs in LAC, followed by dengue, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, trachoma, leprosy, and lymphatic filariasis. On the other hand, for some important NTDs, such as leptospirosis and cysticercosis, complete disease burden estimates are not available. The NTDs in LAC geographically concentrate in 11 different sub-regions, each with a distinctive human and environmental ecology. In the coming years, schistosomiasis could be eliminated in the Caribbean and transmission of lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis could be eliminated in Latin America. However, the highest disease burden NTDs, such as Chagas disease, soil-transmitted helminth infections, and hookworm and schistosomiasis co-infections, may first require scale-up of existing resources or the development of new control tools in order to achieve control or elimination. Ultimately, the roadmap for the control and elimination of the more widespread NTDs will require an inter-sectoral approach that bridges public health, social services, and environmental interventions.</p>  a1935-2735