Viewpoint The Millennium Development Goals and a plethora of initiatives have focused on the control of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. However, a large group of diseases has been confined to the " other diseases " category by health policy makers and politicians. These so-called neglected diseases are the viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections of the tropics (often vector borne), toge...

To know Dickson Despommier is to know his love of parasites. Despommier’s academic text on parasitic diseases (co-edited by Robert Gwadz, Peter Hotez, and Charles Knirsch) is now in its 5th edition. In 2010, the long-time professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health tackled something new in “The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century.” Now he’s returned to hi...

Migrat ion studies provide informat ion on the role of environmental factors on the development of atopy and respiratory disease. Internat ional studies provide st rong and obj ect ive evidence for an associat ion of atopic disease with westernisat ion.1 A metaanalysis has shown higher rates of asthma in immigrants. Immigrants moving to allergy prevalent count ries have general ly more al lergy...

BACKGROUND The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends treating all school children at regular intervals with deworming drugs in areas where helminth infection is common. The WHO state this will improve nutritional status, haemoglobin, and cognition and thus will improve health, intellect, and school attendance. Consequently, it is claimed that school performance will improve, child mortalit...

Zoonotic Toxocara eggs are excreted by dogs and cats. A ubiquitous distribution and resistance may lead to human, mainly children, accidental ingestion of embryonated eggs and infection. In humans the infection remains occult, often resulting in disease caused by the migration larval stages. Human infection by Toxocara canis or Toxocara cati may progress to systemic and ocular toxocariasis. Spe...