The Neglected Tropical Diseases of India and South Asia: Review of Their Prevalence, Distribution, and Control or Elimination

The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are the most common infections of the world's poorest people living in Africa, Asia, and the Americas [1]. Occurring predominantly among people who live on less than US$2 per day or below the World Bank poverty figure of US$1.25 per day, the NTDs represent a group of chronic parasitic and related bacterial and viral infections that actually promote poverty because of their impact on child development, pregnancy outcome, and worker productivity [2]. The NTDs differ significantly in their prevalence and disease burden according to their geographic and regional presence. Such features for the NTDs in sub-Saharan Africa [3], China and East Asia [4], and the Americas [5]–[7], respectively, were reviewed previously. Here, we summarize current knowledge on the prevalence, distribution, and disease burden of the NTDs in India and South Asia, focusing on aspects particular to the region. The review of the literature was conducted using the online database PubMed from 2003 to 2010 with the Medical Subject Headings, the specific diseases listed in the World Health Organization's (WHO) first report on NTDs [8], and the geographic regions and countries of South Asia. Reference lists of identified articles and reviews were also hand searched as were WHO databases (http://www.who.int/), including the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Record. Recently, a comprehensive review on the continuing challenge of infectious diseases in India was published [9]. However, this review focuses exclusively on NTDs, many of which, especially the helminthiases, were not emphasized previously [9].