Loading...
Yaws — a highly contagious disease caused by Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue — primarily afflicts children in poor rural areas of the tropics. The WHO has developed a strategy for community-wide treatment in endemic areas. Might oral azithromycin, which has demonstrated efficacy for treatment of yaws, replace long-acting injectable penicillin for use in such campaigns?
To answer this question, researchers conducted a longitudinal study in Lihir Island, Papua New Guinea (population, ~16,000), which has a relatively high prevalence of yaws. Residents aged ≥2 months were offered a single dose of azithromycin. Clinical and serologic screening to detect active infectious yaws and latent disease was performed at baseline and at 6 and 12 months …