02763nas a2200373   4500000000100000008004100001653002200042653002500064653002100089653003300110653002900143653001800172653001100190653001200201653002300213653002300236653001600259653001100275653002200286653001900308100001500327700001400342700001200356700001100368700001500379700001300394700001200407245008800419856006400507300001100571490000800582520178500590022001402375       2012                            d10aAntifungal Agents10aAntiparasitic Agents10aAntiviral Agents10aCommunicable Disease Control10aEmigrants and Immigrants10aGlobal health10aHumans10aMycoses10aNeglected Diseases10aParasitic Diseases10aSwitzerland10aTravel10aTropical Medicine10aVirus Diseases1 aUtzinger J1 aBecker SL1 aKnopp S1 aBlum J1 aNeumayr AL1 aKeiser J1 aHatz CF00aNeglected tropical diseases: diagnosis, clinical management, treatment and control.  uhttp://www.smw.ch/scripts/stream_pdf.php?doi=smw-2012-13727  aw137270 v1423 a<p>Branded in 2005, "neglected tropical diseases" have gained traction in terms of advocacy, interest for research, enhanced funding and political will for their control and eventual elimination. Starting with an initial set of 13 neglected tropical diseases--seven helminth, three bacterial and three protozoal infections--the list considerably expanded to more than 40 diseases that now also includes viral, fungal and ectoparasitic infections. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the neglected tropical diseases, their causative agents and the current geographical distribution, including their importance for the general practitioners seeing returning travellers and migrants in Switzerland. We characterise the most important of the neglected tropical diseases in terms of at-risk population, estimated number of infections, annual mortality rates and global burden, including current knowledge gaps. With an emphasis on neglected tropical diseases due to helminths, protozoa and ectoparasites, we review common diagnostic methods and current recommendations for treatment at the population level and the individual patient, thereby juxtaposing the situation in highly endemic countries on one side, with Switzerland on the other. We highlight the clinical presentation and management of the neglected tropical diseases in general and then elaborate on two examples, strongyloidiasis and leptospirosis. Our review provides a global perspective of neglected tropical diseases and we hope that it will prove useful for the general practitioner and clinician in Switzerland and elsewhere to enhance their suspicion index, differential diagnosis, clinical management and treatment, including referral to specialised clinics and laboratories when need be.</p>
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