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yaws

 

Definition

Yaws is a chronic illness which first affects the skin, and then affects the bones.

Description

Yaws tends to strike children, particularly between the ages of two and five. It is common in areas where poverty and overcrowding interfere with good hygiene practices. The most common locations are in rural areas throughout Africa, Southeast Asia, and in locations bordering the equator in the Americas.

— Rosalyn Carson-DeWitt, MD



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Dictionary: yaws   (yôz) pronunciation
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pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)
A highly contagious tropical disease that chiefly affects children, caused by the spirochete Treponema pertenue and characterized by raspberrylike sores, especially on the hands, feet, and face. Also called frambesia.

[From American Spanish yaya, sore, from Carib yaya, disease.]



Contagious tropical disease, caused by a variant of the spirochete that causes syphilis. Yaws spreads mainly by discharge from skin sores, not sexual activity. It is common in children, who usually become immune. In the first stage, a skin sore starts as a wartlike thickening, cracks open, leaks fluid, and bleeds easily. A month or more later, multiple sores erupt. The third stage (much rarer than in syphilis) involves destruction of skin, mucous membranes, and bones. Penicillin cures early-stage yaws. Prevention requires isolation and prompt treatment and personal and group hygiene.

For more information on yaws, visit Britannica.com.

An infectious disease of humans caused by the spirochete Treponema pertenue. It is also known as frambesia and is largely confined to the tropics. Usually yaws is contracted in childhood by direct contact or from small flies feeding in succession on infected lesions and open wounds. No race or age possesses natural immunity.


(yôz)
n

A disease caused by Treponema pertenue. It occurs in hot regions; raspberry-like excrescences occur on the hands, face, feet, and external genitalia.

 
yaws or frambesia, tropical infection of the skin caused by a spirochete (Treponema pertenue) closely related to that causing syphilis. Yaws, however, is not a sexually transmitted disease, i.e., it is not contracted by sexual contact; transmission is through ordinary contact with infected persons or their clothing and by insects. An ulcerating lesion ("mother yaw") appears at the site of contact. The second stage of the disease begins 6 to 12 weeks later, when similar ulcerating lesions appear all over the body. If the disease is not treated, the third stage develops several years later, nodular and ulcerating lesions affecting the soles of the feet ("crab yaws") and penetrating the bones with destructive changes. The first and second stages of yaws are easily treated with penicillin and other antibiotics. Yaws is rarely fatal; however, it can lead to chronic disfigurement and disability.


Wikipedia: Yaws
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Yaws
Classification and external resources

Nodules on the elbow resulting from a Treponema pertenue bacterial infection.
ICD-10 A66.
ICD-9 102

Yaws (also Pétasse tropica, thymosis, polypapilloma tropicum, pian or parangi, "Bouba," "Frambesia," and "Pian"[1]) is a tropical infection of the skin, bones and joints caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum pertenue. Other treponemal diseases are bejel (Treponema pallidum endemicum), pinta (Treponema pallidum carateum), and syphilis (Treponema pallidum pallidum).

Contents

History

Examination of ancient remains has led to the suggestion that yaws has affected hominids for the last 1.5 million years. The current name is believed to be of Carib origin, "yaya" meaning sore.

Epidemiology

Yaws is found in humid tropical regions in South America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Mass treatment campaigns in the 1950s reduced the worldwide prevalence from 50-100 million to fewer than 2 million; however during the 1970s there were outbreaks in south-east Asia and there have been continued sporadic cases in South America. It is unclear how many people worldwide are infected at present.

Presentation

The disease is transmitted by skin-to-skin contact with an infective lesion, the bacterium entering through a pre-existing cut, bite or scratch. Within ninety days (but usually less than a month) of infection a painless but distinctive 'mother yaw' appears, which is a painless nodule which enlarges and becomes warty in appearance. Sometimes nearby 'daughter yaws' also appear simultaneously. This primary stage resolves completely within six months. The secondary stage occurs months to years later, and is characterised by widespread skin lesions of varying appearance, including 'crab yaws' on the palms and soles with desquamation. These secondary lesions frequently ulcerate (and are then highly infectious), but heal after six months or more. About ten percent of people then go on to develop tertiary disease within five to ten years (during which further secondary lesions may come and go), characterised by widespread bone, joint and soft tissue destruction, which may include extensive destruction of the bone and cartilage of the nose (rhinopharyngitis mutilans or 'gangosa').

Diagnosis

Dark field microscopy of samples taken from early lesions (particularly ulcerative lesions) may show the responsible organism. Blood tests such as VDRL, Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR) and TPHA will also be positive, but there are no current blood tests which distinguish between the four treponematoses.

Treatment

Treatment is normally by a single dose of intramuscular penicillin, or by a course of penicillin, erythromycin or tetracycline tablets. Early lesions may heal completely, but the destructive changes of tertiary yaws are largely irreversible.

References

  1. ^ James, William D.; Berger, Timothy G.; et al. (2006). Andrews' Diseases of the Skin: clinical Dermatology. Saunders Elsevier. ISBN 0-7216-2921-0. 
  • McNeill, William H. "Plagues and People." Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., New York, NY, 1976, ISBN 0-385-12122-9.

 
 

 

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