Peter J. Hotez, the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, describes how diseases normally associated with developing countries are afflicting increasing numbers of poor people in the United States:

Poverty takes many tolls, but in the United States, one of the most tragic has been its tight link with a group of infections known as the neglected tropical diseases, which we ordinarily think of as confined to developing countries.

Outbreaks of dengue fever, a mosquito-transmitted viral infection that is endemic to Mexico and Central America, have been reported in South Texas. Then there is cysticercosis, a parasitic infection caused by a larval pork tapeworm that leads to seizures and epilepsy; toxocariasis, another parasitic infection that causes asthma and neurological problems; cutaneous leishmaniasis, a disfiguring skin infection transmitted by sand flies; and murine typhus, a bacterial infection transmitted by fleas and often linked to rodent infestations. [NYT]

Hotez shares some startling statistics: Some 300,000 Americans have Chagas disease, an insect-borne pathogen, which is already a leading cause of heart failure and sudden death in Latin America. Up to 2.8 million African Americans may be infected with toxocariasis. Accurate statistics are hard to come by because the people at the greatest risk are the least likely to seek treatment.

Tropical infections contribute to intergenerational poverty by stunting the cognitive development of children and sapping the health and vitality of adults.

We can beat tropical disease in the U.S., Hotez believes, but only with increased epidemiological monitoring and stepped up development of vaccines and drugs. Now is not the time to cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and other public health agencies, as some politicians have urged. It may seem like a money-saver in the short term, but the savings pale beside the long term economic and human cost of neglecting public health.

[Photo credit: The “kissing bug” that spreads Chagas disease, AJC1, Creative Commons.]