Rare Tropical Diseases - Dengue Fever

Number 2 on the Wikipedia Gross-Stuff-You-Catch list, although I'm starting to think it's not really in order of seriousness. TB?! T?! B!?

So, Dengue Fever. It's caused by a virus transmitted by a mosquito found in the tropics. This doozy begins with high fever, chills and aching bones, accompanied by sore throat and depression. That's a mixed bag if there ever was one. Could be malaria. Could be flu.

Then, you get a skin eruption (isn't it wonderful how medical books use such descriptive words!? - Andy) that starts on the hands and feet and spreads to the rest of the body. Maybe, if you're very unlucky, followed by desquamation (mmmm, skin peeling off).

If you're even unluckier and you catch the one variant you begin to bleed and bleed and bleed and bleed. And bleed. Luckily, most times it's not fatal because your doctor will top you up with a couple of pints (blood, that is) and the disease will heal over a period.

And if you weren't convinced about the popularity of this cretin. There's even a band!


They make music that's both familiar, yet eerily unique. Apparently. Visit their site here!

Why South African Doctors are hardcore (when it comes to rare tropical diseases)...

With much amusement, I noticed that TB (tuberculosis) was number 6 on that Wikipedia Watch-Out-For-This list we've been talking about.

In South Africa, TB (next to HIV) is the highest prevalent infectious disease. Even as a first year fledgling, we were taught it's TB, TB, TB until proven otherwise. I can diagnose it in my sleep. Even interns (especially interns because they deal with the crap) treat this shit for breakfast.

AND. We don't wear masks everytime we deal with patients. Our immune systems are THAT hardcore. American medicine might think that foolhardy. We just call each other Chuck and carry on with business.

Rare Tropical Diseases - Leishmaniasis

Now, this obtuse word even pops up in the Wikipedia Top 10 infectious nasties.

A kind lady posted a comment on our intro to rare tropical diseases about something her husband picked up while in Iraq, that seems to be under the radar of American doctors. It sounded interesting, and Andy asked me to look it up and post something.

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease transferred by the bites of sand flies. There are many different forms of this parasite, depending on which part of the world you're in. Evidently, it also resides in the Iraqi desert. Specfically, the Middle Eastern version is L major. NOT to be confused with:

*L tropica (the vector could get you while lazing in the hammock)
*L braziliensis (never known to wear revealing swimsuits)
*L mexicana (can not be cured by excessive tequila consumption)

So, what happens? All leishmania cause slightly different physical symptoms but can be divided into visceral (body organs), cutaneous (skin), mucocutaneous (wet mucussy skin - inside mouth and nose).

Simply put, you get multiple ulcerating or nodular lumps on your body. The visceral one even causes enlarged liver and spleen, gum bleeding and wasting. Yummy.


Worst part of all, as suspected by our kind commentor, treatment remains inadequete because of drug toxicity, long courses required and frequent need for hospitalisation.

Best of luck to the American Military Doctors who have to differentiate it from leukaemia, lymphoma, tuberculosis, brucellosis and typhoid (that's just a few).

Rare Tropical Diseases - An Expose!

I remember when I was a kid - I used to read the FHM. Now being half-married... the FHM's are hidden under the bed (alongside Scope, ooo). And I don't get to read them that often :)

But the memories persist. And one of those memories is of a lesser-known feature they used to run: Rare Tropical Disease of the Month. Mmmm. Tasty. Which got me thinking about rare tropical diseases.

Wikipedia defines them as:

Tropical diseases are infectious diseases that either occur uniquely in tropical and subtropical regions (which is rare) or, more commonly, are either more widespread in the tropics or more difficult to prevent or control.

Since the advent of air travel, people more frequently visit these regions and contract many of these diseases, most notably malaria and hepatitis. Any nontropical condition however should never be overlooked in those returning from the tropics.

The world's most knowledgeable website goes onto to list them! Joy!

The Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) of the World Health Organization focuses on neglected infectious diseases that disproportionally affect poor and marginalized populations. The current disease portfolio includes the following ten:

*African trypanosomiasis
*Dengue fever
*Leishmaniasis
*Malaria
*Schistosomiasis
*Tuberculosis
*Chagas disease
*Leprosy
*Lymphatic filariasis
*Onchocerciasis

Although leprosy and tuberculosis are not exclusively tropical diseases (they have occurred everywhere), their highest incidence in the tropics justify its inclusion. Cholera and yellow fever also fall into this category.

Some tropical diseases are very rare, but may occur in sudden epidemics, such as the Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever and the Marburg virus. There are hundreds of different tropical diseases which are less known or rarer, but that, nonetheless, have importance for public health, such as:

*Oropouche virus
*Lobomycosis
*West Nile disease
*Lábrea fever
*Rocio disease
*Mapucho hemorrhagic fever
*Trachoma Guinea worm
*Chikungunya etc.

Yikes. Sounds sore. I think we need to get SA Doc onto this. No more snotty noses. Rare Tropical Diseases. An Expose! Yes!