Chagas, leishmaniasis, Buruli ulcer . . . for most Americans, those words don’t mean a lot. But for many, these are the names of dreaded diseases. They are among a group of diseases classified as “neglected infectious diseases”—diseases that affect more than 1 billion people worldwide but are neglected in terms of research and disease control. They are most common in the poorest regions around the globe.
For many of these diseases, medical options to prevent infection and the spread of the disease are few and often inadequate. More research is needed.
The fact sheets below profile eight neglected infectious diseases—what they are, who gets them, what treatments are available, and what the U.S. government spends on research for each. We do not have a fact sheet for every neglected infectious disease. However, we selected diseases for which medical options are inadequate and where there is a desperate need for more research.
Check out these fact sheets, and make Chagas, leishmaniasis, and Buruli ulcer more than unfamiliar names.
See Families USA’s Global Health Initiative report on U.S. government research spending on neglected infectious diseases research, The World Can’t Wait: More Funding Needed for Research on Neglected Infectious Diseases.
