Yaws

Yaws is the name of an occurring in tropical regions, non- venereal infectious disease. The disease derives its name from the French word for Raspberry, Framboise, from. This name characterizes the appearance of the lesions that are caused by this disease. The yaws belongs to the group of tropical treponematoses.

Synonyms

• Framboesia tropica
• Polypapilloma tropicum
• Buba
• Raspberry disease
• Pian (French )
• Pian (Spanish )
• Bouba, piã (Portuguese )
• Yaws (English )

Pathogen

Exciting the yaws is the bacterium Treponema pertenue from the family of spirochetes. The transfer itself is probably by direct contact of skin to skin or insect bites, usually already in early childhood or adolescents under 15 years of poorer sections of society, presumably due to the cramped living conditions there.

Epidemiology

Before the wide -area therapy carried out campaigns of WHO in the 1950s people were infected with Treponema pertenue to the 50 to 100 million. In the 1980s occurred in the Western Hemisphere, less than 500 cases annually. At the last estimate of the WHO 1995, they went 2-5 million sufferers from. In recent years, this disease of the rural poor, however, the absence of adequate prevention spreads out again, especially in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Current figures on incidence and incidence are not available.

Symptoms

First stage

After an incubation period of three to four weeks, usually forms on the lower leg in children in the face and in lactating women and on the chest as primary lesion is a painless, itchy, oozing " raspberry -like " Papel - sometimes a painless ulcer - from which is accompanied by a regional lymph node swelling.

Second stage

A few weeks after their healing occur in the second stage, the so-called secondary stage, generalized also on the palms and soles papules, which are similar to the primary lesion, but are often superinfected.

Third stage

In the so-called latent stage the patients are symptom-free for five to ten years, but recurrences may occur.

Stage Four

The fourth or " tertiary stage " of the disease is characterized by Gummaartige changes in the bones and joints, which lead to their destruction, so that eg the tibia can be deformed to Säbelscheidentibia. Similarly, it may form a cleft palate or a saddle nose, as in the case of syphilis, come.

Therapy

The disease can be treated with antibiotics such as penicillin with good prognosis. A study in Papua New Guinea showed in 2012 that in children a single tablet of the antibiotic azithromycin works so well as a penicillin injection, which would greatly facilitate future therapeutic interventions. The WHO issued a press statement that it was considering to change their strategy regarding this neglected tropical disease. A new edition of the measures from the 1950s is being considered.