YAWS(TREPONEMA-PERTENUE)

Yaws (also frambesia tropica, thymosis, polypapilloma tropicum, pian or parangi, "Bouba," "Frambösie," and "Pian" is a tropical infection of theskin, bones and joints caused by the spirochete bacterium ..Treponema pallidum pertenue

Yaws: A forgotten disease

The disease

• Yaws is a chronic infection that affects mainly the skin, bone and cartilage.
• The disease occurs mainly in poor communities in warm, humid, tropical areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
• The causative organism is a bacterium called Treponema pertenue, a subspecies of Treponema pallidum that causes venereal syphilis. However, yaws is a non-venereal infection.
• About 75% of people affected are children under 15 years of age (peak incidence occurs in children aged 6-10 years); males and females are affected and no race is exempt.
• Yaws is transmitted mainly through direct skin contact with an infected person.
• A single skin lesion develops at the point of entry of the bacterium after 2–4 weeks. Without treatment, multiple lesions appear all over the body.
• Overcrowding, poor personal hygiene and poor sanitation facilitate the spread of the disease.
• The disease is rarely fatal; however, it can lead to chronic disfigurement and disability.
• Yaws can be treated with a single dose of a cheap and effective antibiotic: