Trachoma and yaws: Common ground?

Editor's introduction:

Trachoma is an important cause of blindness. The causative organism is an intracellular bacterium, Chlamydia trachomatis, which is susceptible to single-dose azithromycin. A World Health Organization (WHO)-led program aims to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem globally by 2020. Yaws is a cause of skin, bone, and cartilage disease. The causative organism is a spirochaete bacterium, Treponema pallidum ssp. pertenue, which is susceptible to single-dose azithromycin. A WHO-led program aims to eradicate yaws globally by 2020.

These diseases are both found in hard-to-reach populations—they affect the poorest people living in the most remote areas of the countries where they’re found—and have some apparent similarity in the methods recommended to counter them. Maximum synergy between programs is possible only if the two diseases affect the same communities, and if program goals permit alignment of work. Trachoma’s elimination as a public health problem means “the reduction of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity or mortality to a locally acceptable level as a result of deliberate efforts”, whereas yaws eradication requires “permanent reduction to zero of the worldwide incidence of infection caused by a specific agent as a result of deliberate efforts” - a quite different goal. This symposium reviews the extent to which the epidemiologies of and management strategies for these diseases actually overlap, to determine areas for mutually beneficial collaboration.