Emerging and Reemerging Neglected Tropical Diseases: Epidemiology, Transmission, Mitigation, and Vaccines and Chemotherapy Advancements

About this Research Topic

Background

Zoonotic and other infectious diseases are emerging and reemerging rapidly in recent times owing to altered climatic conditions, changing lifestyles, and unhealthy living conditions. The WHO listed 20 infectious conditions as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), contributing to about 11% of the disease burden globally, affecting over 1 billion people (especially in the tropics and subtropics.) All these NTDs shared two common characteristics. The first is their prevalence in rural and/or displaced communities and urban slums in tropical areas with warmer weather conditions. These are the most susceptible groups. Secondly, the disease-countering therapeutic interventions are low owing to deficient funding.

NTDs involve intricate transmission cycles between humans and the vertebrate and invertebrate carriers (from dogs, snakes, and livestock to mosquitoes, flies, and snails), and the environmental dynamics (like fluctuating temperature, rainfall, humidity and the occurrence of extreme weather conditions) influence the infection pattern. The earlier-characterized temperate regions are experiencing a temperature rise and altered precipitation patterns, which has led to the development of more suitable habitat for the transmission of dengue, chikungunya, leishmaniasis, and schistosomiasis that otherwise prevailed in the tropics (to parts of central Europe and the US). Furthermore, Noma was identified and added as the 21st disease to this WHO list of NTDs as late as November 2023 and has been identified as a potential epidemic.

Recognizing the lack of funding for research of NTDs and an urgent need to fill the financial gap, the international community pledged in September 2000 to reduce abject poverty by 2015 spearheaded by the UN under the Millennium Development Goals commitments. The main focuses of the Development Goals are to reduce the child death rate globally, improve maternal health, and handle the ‘big three’ targets: malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS.

The efforts, however, have remained inadequate even a decade after the target year (2015). It is attributed to becoming increasingly defocused and thus inadequately addressing the other major factors in the impoverished community contributing to NTD-led mortality and morbidity.
Thankfully, there has been a recent shift in this after the Department for Control of Neglected Tropical Disease was set up in 2005 by the WHO especially to tackle NTDs. With an aim to leverage awareness and mobilize NTD control efforts, the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases Control (www.GNNTDC.org) alliance has been newly set up. The 74th World Health Assembly held in 2021 proposed a nine-year plan to eradicate NTDs between 2021 and 2030.

Reemerging NTDs call for increased attention. These include communicable and vector-borne fungal, bacterial, viral, and parasitic diseases. Although the majority of the diseases remain endemic to specific regions, some were reported elsewhere exhibiting a potentially epidemic tendency, thereby compelling public health agencies worldwide to activate necessary precautions to control the spread. COVID-19 significantly impacted global socioeconomic and healthcare infrastructure over the past three years. Coordinated efforts among high-income and low/middle-income countries are recommended now more than ever to address the threats posed by the NTDs worldwide. It could be initiated in line with the very promising (although funding-intensive) ‘One Health’ model, wherein experts from various line departments could collaborate to forge solutions.
There is currently a lack of knowledge on how such diseases are transmitted and the suitable mitigation strategies to control the spread. One of the strategies could be better availability of diagnostic tests, vaccines, and drugs in the affected countries after due tests and trials- which calls for enough funding for focused research and development.

In this Research Topic, we wish to address the best-case scenario to tackle the emerging and reemerging NTDs. We welcome a range of NTD-targeted articles (like opinion, commentary, systematic reviews, and original research) on epidemiology, transmission, mitigation strategies, and recent advances in vaccines and chemotherapy. The themes include, but are not limited to, studies on:

• Identifying the reservoirs/carriers and vector control strategies
• Rapid testing modalities for diagnosis, screening, and surveillance
• Healthcare strategies (with drinking water safety, and improved sanitation and hygiene)
• Recent advances in the discovery and delivery of vaccines and drugs

Keywords: NTDs, WHO, Tropical diseases, neglected tropical diseases, zoonotic

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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