Papua New Guinea ; Tropical Medicine/*history

Papua New Guinea ; Tropical Medicine/*history

Papua New Guinea ; Tropical Medicine/*history

Nonmelanoma skin cancers are the most common human cancers. To this group basal cell carcinoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the second most common skin cancer in darkly pigmented patients and majority of the SCC's develop in non-sun exposed areas. We describe a case of a 72-year old male who consulted in the outpatient department of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for a 2-month history of non-healing ulcer on the scalp. Histopathologic examination revealed diagnosis of invasive squamous cell carcinoma. Patient was referred for surgical excision.

Human ; Male ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Outpatients ; Scalp ; Skin Neoplasms ; Tropical Medicine ; Ulcer

BACKGROUND: Rabies is an important zoonotic disease that needs to be eradicated worldwide. It is still prevalent in the Philippines, thus development of a relatively affordable but still accurate and rapid post-mortem detection test for the virus is desired, especially in regional laboratories.
METHODS:The study evaluated the Direct Rapid Immunohistochemical Testing (DRIT) of hippocampal touch impressions of suspected rabid Canis lupus familiaris using monospecific N protein polyclonal antibody developed by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM). One hundred sixty (160) acetone-fixed hippocampal touch impressions were subjected DRIT.
RESULTS: One hundred thirteen (70.6%) out of 160 samples tested positive for rabies viral antigen (RVA) and 47 (29.4%) out of 160 samples tested negative for RVA. No false positive and false negative results were obtained. The results agree with the gold standard, dFAT.
CONCLUSION: DRIT was able to detect low to high concentrations of RVA in the hippocampal touch impressions based on the grading distribution. DRIT had 100% sensitivity, specificity and over-all accuracy using monospecific polyclonal antibodies, which suggests its use as a more affordable alternative to the gold standard dFAT.

Animal ; Antigens, Viral ; Dogs ; Hippocampus ; Rabies ; Rabies Virus ; Sensitivity And Specificity ; Touch ; Tropical Medicine ; Immunohistochemistry

Africa ; Altruism ; Biology ; Europe ; Gabon ; History, 19th Century ; History, 20th Century ; Humans ; Philately ; Philosophy, Medical ; history ; Tropical Medicine ; history

The objective of my article is to investigate how the West had strong interest in tropical diseases and developed tropical medicine and hygiene from the 1870s through the 1910s. Its focus is to identify the geopolitical conditions in which the West constructed 'tropical diseases'to extend its imperial interests into non-Western tropical regions. The article has several specific research tasks: first, I attempt to explore the way in which European people transformed their attitudes toward tropical diseases from the sixteenth century to the 1860s. A variety of writings by European physicians are discussed; the second part shows European change in its domestic sanitary situation in relation to its imperial interests in tropical regions. Sanitary hygiene in metropole and colonies are not separate, but interconnected; third, the paper illuminates how the West responded to the spread of 'Asiatic cholera' in the nineteenth century. Cholera provides a typical example for the West to perceive Asian origin of tropical diseases; finally, the article demonstrates that hygienic governance of tropical diseases is the key to imperial dominion over colonies by taking the Panama Canal as an example. Although several European countries such as Spain, Britain, Germany, and France had strong imperial interests in the Panama Canal that might facilitate trade between the Atlantic and the Pacific, they failed to occupy the canal because of their inability to control high prevalence of malaria and yellow fever. Taking advantage of 'tropical medicine, ' the United States succeeded in taking up the canal by eradicating tropical diseases in the canal. It was owing to the scientific development of tropical hygiene and medicine that the West transformed its pessimistic into optimistic position about the colonization of tropical regions. Tropical diseases became the geopolitical reference for Western conceptualization of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific.
Tropical Medicine/*history ; Sanitation/history ; Hygiene/*history ; Humans ; History, 20th Century ; History, 19th Century ; Europe ; Colonialism/history ; Cholera/epidemiology/*history ; Attitude of Health Personnel

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of tropical infectious diseases of poorest people. Of 17 NTDs managed by WHO, two, guinea worm disease (by 2015) and yaws (by 2020) are targeted for eradication, and four (blinding trachoma, human African trypanosomiasis, leprosy, and lymphatic filariasis) for elimination by 2020. The goals look promising but 11 others are still highly prevalent. Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) are one NTD which prevail over the world including temperate zones. They had been highly prevalent in Korea but are mostly disappearing at present through systematic and sustainable control activity. The successful experience of STH control enables Korean experts to develop many programs of NTD control in developing countries. Several programs of both official development aid and non-governmental organizations are now targeting NTDs. Most NTDs are low in health priority compared to their health threats because they are chronic, insidious, and of low mortality. No one, including the victims, raised priority of NTD control with a loud voice in the endemic field of the diseases. After the millennium development goals declared disease control over the world, NTDs are becoming less neglected globally. Even with limited resources, beginning a sustainable national program is the key for the control and elimination of NTDs. No more neglect, especially no more self-neglect, can eliminate diseases and upgrade quality of life of the neglected people.
Communicable Disease Control/*organization & administration ; *Developing Countries ; Global Health ; Humans ; *International Cooperation ; Neglected Diseases/diagnosis/*epidemiology/*prevention & control ; Population Surveillance/methods ; Republic of Korea ; Tropical Medicine/*organization & administration

In the temperate climate zones, many familiar viral and bacterial diseases are spread directly from person to person, by airborne routes of transmission or by sexual contact. In the tropics, respiratory diseases(such as measles, respiratory syncytial virus, tuberculosis) and sexually transmitted diseases are also of great importance. In addition, many diseases are spread by contaminated water and food sources, since clean water and sanitary conditions are often a luxury in developing countries. Alternatively, some tropical disease agents are transmitted by an intermediate carrier or vector. The insect or other invertebrate vector picks up the pathogen from an infected person or animal and transmits it to others in the process of feeding. Often, tropical disease agents must undergo important developmental changes within the vector before they complete their life cycle and once again become infective for man. Infectious diseases account for approximately one half of all deaths in the tropical areas of the world. Nearly all of these deaths occur in children under the age of five. Those infectious diseases that are primarily found in the developing world or profoundly impact the health of people living in the tropics are frequently referred to as tropical diseases. Conditions that contribute to the risk for becoming infected with a tropical disease agent include biological factors related to population density, rural vs. urban living, nutritional status, climate and other environmental factors, as well as socioeconomic circumstances. At one time, many of today's tropical diseases also occurred in temperate regions, since many of the same risk factors were found there. Today, however, industrial development and technological advances, including medical ones, have lessened the impact of these diseases in industrialized countries.
Animals ; Biological Factors ; Child ; Climate ; Communicable Diseases ; Developed Countries ; Developing Countries ; Humans ; Insects ; Invertebrates ; Life Cycle Stages ; Measles ; Nutritional Status ; Population Density ; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses ; Risk Factors ; Sexually Transmitted Diseases ; Tropical Medicine

Recently, many peoples travel abroad for sightseeing, business, missionary and other works. At the same time, imported parasitic diseases including malaria has been increased in Korea. The vector borne and food borne diseases were imported from many other countries, Africa, Middle East and South east Asia. Recently many foreigners entered to Korea for studying, working and other purposes. Imported foods, fishes, meats, vegetables are important for parasitic infection, too. The author reviewed imported parasitic diseases in Korea from 1970 to 2006 with literatures. Malaria is most prevalent. And babesiosis of 6 cases, cutaneous leishmaniasis of over 20 cases, visceral leishmaniasis of 5 cases, loiasis of 3 cases, gnathostomiasis of 40 cases, angiostrongylosis of 10 cases, heterophydiasis of 2 cases, schistosomiasis haematobium of 6 cases, schistosomiasis mansoni of 3 cases, hydatidosis of 24 cases, cutaneous larva migrans of 4 cases, and one case of ancylostomiasis, syngamosis, cutaneous myiasis and pentastomiasis are reported, respectively. The protozoa of 5 species and helminthes of 11 species are imported from many other countries. In Korea, re-emerging malaria was appeared at Demilitarized zone (DMZ) on 1993. Last year, 2,051 cases of indigenous malaria were reported by Korean Center for Diseases Control (KCDC). However, the most prevalent imported malaria was Plasmodium falciparum and indigenous malaria was only P. vivax. For the prevention of imported parasitic diseases, the education, training for tropical medicine, supply of medication and vaccine are needed. The surveillance system for imported diseases was started by KCDC on 2001.
Africa ; Ancylostomiasis ; Animals ; Babesiosis ; Commerce ; Echinococcosis ; Education ; Emigrants and Immigrants ; Far East ; Fishes ; Foodborne Diseases ; Gnathostomiasis ; Helminths ; Humans ; Korea ; Larva Migrans ; Leishmaniasis, Cutaneous ; Leishmaniasis, Visceral ; Loiasis ; Malaria ; Meat ; Middle East ; Missions and Missionaries ; Myiasis ; Parasites ; Parasitic Diseases* ; Plasmodium falciparum ; Schistosomiasis haematobia ; Schistosomiasis mansoni ; Tropical Medicine ; Vegetables