Women and tropical diseases

This collection of papers deals with the epidemiology, symptomatology, immunology, long-term effects, effects on fertility and pregnancy, treatment, and many other aspects of four tropical diseases; leprosy, malaria, schistosomiasis, and Chagas disease, on women. Some of the papers are specific to one country or region, while others are more generalized. Of the four diseases covered, only two are directly water-related; schistosomiasis, where the parasite Schistosoma mansonii, Schistosoma haematobium, or Schistosoma japonicum is transmitted from its snail host to humans, and malaria, transmitted by mosquitos, part of whose life cycle takes place in water. In the case of Chagas' disease, improvements in hygiene which would eradicate the arthropod vector, in this case the triatomid bug, would lead to a decrease in the disease. Leprosy control could be strengthened by health education, particularly on the community level. Since many factors play a role in disease transmission, from level of resistance of the individual to social and cultural habits to environmental conditions, one factor cannot be singled out as the solution, only as a starting point.