Northeastern professor Richard Wamai is scheduled to welcome dozens of scientists and some Northeastern students to the fifth meeting of the New England Neglected Tropical Diseases Consortium in Cambridge on Thursday, Sept. 18.
The scientific meeting will include presentations on the latest research into diseases that strike mainly poor and rural people in the tropics, as well as talks by individuals who help deliver medical aid.
Wamai, an expert on global health and one of the co-founders of the New England consortium, says one in six people are exposed to or at risk of developing neglected tropical diseases.
The majority of cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa, South America and South Asia.
The disease list includes rabies, which is virtually always fatal, as well as visceral leishmaniasis — Wamai’s area of specialty — which is deadly if not treated.
Many, like elephantiasis and leprosy can be disabling, Wamai says. Neglected tropical diseases often strike children, leaving them with scars, stunted growth, swollen limbs and sight loss.
For a long time, neglected tropical diseases lived in the shadow of eradication programs for malaria and Guinea-worm disease, “and yet they affect large populations,” says Wamai, who recently returned from a sabbatical in Kenya.
For the past few years, however, the United Nations has been working with the World Health Organization to reduce the incidence of neglected tropical diseases by 2030.
WHO estimates that one billion people suffer from neglected tropical diseases caused by a variety of pathogens including viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi and toxins.
The list includes Chagas disease, which can lead to debilitating heart and gut problems, as well as dengue, chikungunya, yaws, scabies and even snakebite.
Wamai himself established a research and health center in Kenya, the TERMES Center, for patients with visceral leishmaniasis, which is transmitted by the bite of a sand flea. The center also hosts Northeastern students.
His students have co-authored several papers including a scoping review of leishmaniasis disease in Ethiopia that was published in June. Several students are scheduled to present at the symposium.
Now that President Trump’s administration has dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, people working to eradicate neglected tropical diseases are turning to non-profits such as the END Fund to support their efforts, Wamai says.
“Neglected tropical diseases are also called diseases of poverty,” he says.
Wamai says the point of the symposium—which is attracting researchers from across the globe, not just New England—is to find ways to eliminate or at least reduce the incidence of these diseases.