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poverty, itself consequence of the outcome these diseases have on
child development, fertility and child-birth rates, and general
productivity (Hotez
et al
., 2009). Frequently, these neglecteddiseases
fail to attract the attention of governmental officials and potential
investors (pharmaceutical companies included), and the limitedfunds
available severely limit research and development projectsthatmight
lead to a better management of these illnesses.
Until the early 1980, an erradicationist perspective dominatedthe
way medicine looked upon infectious diseases (Snowden, 2008).Asa
result, the beginning of the aids pandemic in 1981 unified all the
erradicationists thought as improbable: a newinfectious scourge for
which no cure existed, that plagued both developing and industrialized
countries, and to which a plethora of opportunistic pathogens was
usually associatedwith. One of the diseases most frequentlydiagnosed
in association with HIV– tuberculosis – caused by
Mycobacterium
tuberculosis
, has tormented mankind from immemorial times.
Nonetheless, it is, nowadays, emerging, being responsible for
thousands the deaths annually, not sparing either poor or wealthy
populations. This example also serves to illustrate the fact that the
neglected and poverty-related diseases are frequently associatedwith
so-called emerging or re-emerging infections. This designation.was
coined during the 1990s by the Nobel laureate
Joshua Lederberg, and is intended to embrace a group of diseaseswith
an ongoing prevalence increase, and no expected decline in thenear
future, among human populations (Davis e Lederberg, 2000).
Even though some of the diseases we will come across in the
coming pages thrive in environments beleaguered by social as wellas
political conflicts, andwhere the most affected populationsare,most
frequently than not, targeted for discrimination, some of themhave
also a significant bearing in the so-called developedworld, as a direct
consequence one of the aspects that governs our present time –
globalization. The latter is a product of mass populationdisplacement
(whether voluntary or not), and extensive commercialexchanges,that
not only open avenues for an almost limitless expansion of the
microbial gene pool, but at the same time grants them access to a
never-ending number of potential non-immune hosts. On top ofthe
effects of globalization, demographic growth also repeatedlyassumes
uncontrollable and chaotic features, giving rise to physicalconditions
where microorganisms and their vectors prosper. Thesetranslateinto
the growth of megacities where thousands of individuals come
together, a significant proportion of whom are poor and uneducated,
living under inadequate sanitary conditions. Furthermore, the
persistent human encroachment in pristine environments is a
continuous source of ecological turmoil. Finally, climate changeis
also expected to have contributed in recent times to temporalseasonal
changes, as well as the geographical variations of ecological
boundaries.
This chapter is dedicated to a very diverse group of pathogensthat
are etiological agents to a no less varied collection of poverty-related
and emerging diseases. They include geohelminthosis, fascioliasis,
filariasis, and schistosomiasis, protozoa-caused infections such as
amebiasis, cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis, and other intestinalinfections,
leishmaniosis, malaria, and trypanosomosis. Among bacterialrelated
diseases, andwhile cholera may be the one that best reflectspoverty,
we will address leptospirosis, syphilis and tuberculosis. As examples
of viral infections, we will focus on arbovirosis, diarrheas caused by
enteric viruses, hepatitis delta and aids. Finally, emerging
opportunistic mycosis imported from tropical environmentswillalso
be addressed.