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.

Yaws
Classification & 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 or pian) is a tropical infection of the skin, bones and joints caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pertenue. Other treponematosis diseases are bejel (Treponema endemicum), pinta (Treponema carateum), syphilis (Treponema pallidum), and Lyme Disease (Borrelia burgdorferi)

Epidemiology

The disease is transmitted by skin contact with infected individuals or eye gnats, the spirochete entering through an existing cut or similar damage. Within ninety days (but usually less than a month) of infection a painless but distinctive 'mother yaw' ulcer appears. These tracts heal with keloid formation which can cause deformities, disabilities and limb contractures. The bone lesions caused are periostitis, osteitis, and osteomyelitis, damage to the tibia can lead to a condition known as sabre shins. In a very few cases a condition known as goundou is caused where growths on the nasal maxillae can result in extensive and severe damage to the nose and palate.

The largest group afflicted by yaws are children aged 6 to 10 years in tropical areas of the Americas, Africa, Asia or Oceania. There were World Health Organization funded campaigns against yaws from 1954 to 1963 which greatly reduced the incidence of the disease, although more recently numbers have risen again.

The disease is identified from blood tests or by a lesion sample through a darkfield examination under a microscope. Treatment is by a single dose of penicillin, erythromycin or tetracycline, recurrence or relapse is uncommon.

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; frambesia is a Modern Latin word inspired by the French word Pétasse ("raspberry").

Occurrence

Yaws was nearly eradicated by a worldwide treatment program in the 1950s, which reduced the number of sufferers of yaws from an estimated 50 million to nearly zero. However, the World Health Organization reported in January 2007 that yaws is on the rise again, with roughly a half a million sufferers, mostly in poor, rural areas.^[1]

References

1. ^ WHO: Flesh-Eating Disease Making Comeback. Associated Press (January 25, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-01-25.

• McNeill, Katie H. "Plagues and People." Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., New York, NY, 1976, ISBN 0-385-12122-9.

Bacterial diseases (primarily A00-A79, 001-041,080-109)
G+/Firmicutes	Clostridium (Pseudomembranous colitis, Botulism, Tetanus, Gas gangrene) - Streptococcus A and B (Scarlet fever, Erysipelas) - Staphylococcus (Toxic shock syndrome) - Bacilli (Anthrax, Listeriosis)
G+/Actinobacteria	Mycobacterium: Tuberculosis (Ghon focus, Ghon's complex, Tuberculous meningitis, Pott's disease, Scrofula, Bazin disease, Lupus vulgaris, Miliary tuberculosis) - Leprosy - Lady Windermere syndrome - Buruli ulcer - Actinomycetales: Actinomycosis - Nocardiosis - Diphtheria - Erythrasma
G-/Spirochetal	Syphilis (Bejel) - Yaws - Pinta - Relapsing fever - Noma - Trench mouth - Lyme disease - Rat-bite fever (Sodoku) - Leptospirosis
G-/Chlamydiae	Chlamydia - Lymphogranuloma venereum - Psittacosis - Trachoma
G-/α Proteobacteria	Rickettsioses (Typhus, Scrub typhus, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Boutonneuse fever, Q fever, Trench fever, Rickettsialpox) - Brucellosis - Cat scratch fever - Bartonellosis (Bacillary angiomatosis)
G-/β&γ Proteobacteria	Salmonella (Typhoid fever, Paratyphoid fever, Salmonellosis) - other intestinal (Cholera, Shigellosis) - Zoonotic (Bubonic plague, Tularemia, Glanders, Melioidosis, Pasteurellosis) - Other: Pertussis - Meningococcus (Meningococcemia, Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome) - Legionellosis - Brazilian purpuric fever - Chancroid - Donovanosis - Gonorrhea

Donate to Wikimedia