Yaws eradication - a goal finally within reach.

Yaws is a chronic infectious disease caused by Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue, a gram-negative bacterium that is genetically closely related to the less common nonvenereal endemic treponematoses, bejel and pinta, and T. pallidum subspecies pallidum, the causative agent of syphilis. As one of the 17 neglected tropical diseases that the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified as disproportionately affecting economically disadvantaged populations, yaws was added to the list of those endorsed for global eradication by a 2013 resolution of the World Health Assembly (WHA66.12).