Talk:Tropical disease

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Early comments
Whilst researching tropical diseases i found the /ljvb/ lkmentire topic blanked. im thinking it was mindless vandalism (is there any other kind?) so i reverted back to the previous edition.Meat Golem 09:32, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

This is a very nice start. Important with more references regarding interventions and their effectiveness. Bednets are well documented, for example.--Useknowledge (talk) 21:08, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Yellow fever
Is there some reason that yellow fever is not mentioned in this article? As a mosquito-borne disease, I think it qualifies as "tropical", and it's historically important. It's now better controlled than many or most of the diseases in this article. (I'm guessing that the existence of an effective vaccine is why it didn't make the TDR list.) But it still kills an estimated 30,000 annually, and I think it should be in the article somewhere. --Mathrec (talk) 23:11, 27 April 2009 (UTC) --Mathrec (talk) 23:18, 27 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Excellent observation. I have included Yellow Fever in the table that I just added.DiverDave (talk) 06:17, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

Merge
I think this article should be moved. It is discriminating to use the term tropical disease; this implies that the diseases mentioned do not occur in temperate zone (which is incorrect; eg malaria was previously occuring in the Netherlands, leishmaniasis occurs in italy, ...) and the creation of this article further increases the insight of many that most of the diseases occur in the tropics; which is not accurate. Probably one of the key reasons why certain diseases still prevail in the tropics is because the pharmaceutical companies have only been intrested in eliminating diseases in the temperate (rich) countries (eg polio), and are now shifting to other lucrative problems (eg viagra). Another reason is probably additional factors as weak hygiene and sanitation; which is a social/economical problem and has nothing to do with the climatological situation.

A proposal is a move to neglected disease in which the first line is something like: Neglected diseases are diseases that have been neglected by pharmaceutical companies and the local population and which are gaining ever more ground in large areas. Neglection by pharamaceutical companies is primarily the objection of making any vaccins or medicinal drugs against the diseases at all, while the indiginous population itself has not given enough attention to personal hygiene, protection from insect bites/stings, and a failure of setting up good sanitation (such as covered sewage canals, ...)

I think such article is far more fair and objective (does not put any group in favor; neither the west or the locals) and subtracts diseases from climate. -- — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.245.173.181 (talk • contribs) 29 April 2009‎

I agree that "tropical disease" and "tropical medicine" are largely western terms that may not represent the most politically correct point of view. The term that I prefer is "diseases of resource poor settings". It conveys that these are illnesses that can be found in the slums of Nairobi as well as Moscow. It would include common diseases (Malaira) as well as lesser know ones (Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever). These are the diseases that Laurie Garrett writes about in her numerous texts on the subject. While this term may convey a more precise definition,this is not a term in regular circulation. "Neglected Tropical Diseases" by-in-large refers to the WHO list of NTDs that are in need of attention due to the low ratio of funding to of the degree of morbidity and mortality they cause. It does not (strictly speaking) include the standard tropical diseases such as AIDS, TB, and malaria. The NTDs represent a social construct to draw attention (and rightly so) away from the attention grabbing headlines and towards neglected areas. Thus, I am inclined to stay with the "tropical" moniker. While not ideal, it is a known and understood term that is used widely. Even the institutions that teach and promote the treatment and eradication of these diseases use the term "Tropical" in their names (American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), Research Institute for Tropical Medicine. Michael Gillette (talk) 02:06, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

Tropical diseases
Some diseases mentioned here are not really tropical, such as malaria, yellow fever, leprosy, tuberculosis, and some others. --Fev (talk) 01:40, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

This is true. Topical medicine is a difficult term to define. In 1925, Andrew Balfour, in his presidential address to the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, said "there is in one sense no such thing as tropical medicine, and in any case many of the most erudite writings of Hippocrates are concerned with maladies which nowadays are chiefly encountered under tropical or subtropical conditions". It is true that the origins of tropical medicine seem to were born out of a need to protect Brittish interests in a ever widening empire (as indicated in David Arnold's text "Imperial Medicine and Indigenous Societies). Modern topical medicine, however, is a complex tapestry of parasitology, neglected diseases, and common ailments of marginalized populations, superimposed on a public health framework.  I would be inclined to take a wider view of the term "Tropical Diseases". Michael Gillette (talk) 03:16, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

Merge & Name Change
{Merge|Tropical Medicine|date=July 2009} I suggest merging the information on this page with that contained on the Tropical Medicine page, as both pages deal with the same subject. Both pages are in need of extensive work and attention from an expert in this area. I believe the title of the new, merged page should be {{Tropical Medicine]]. While I recognize and acknowledge the ethnocentrism inherent in this term, it is nevertheless the term which is most widely recognized in literature and indeed in the names of the schools that teach this discipline. Wikipedia is intended to be a neutral reference source, and not an instrument of social change. DiverDave (talk) 19:26, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

I agree, Tropical Medicine and Tropical Diseases are essentially the same thing. I would argue that NTDs represent a sub set of the "Tropical" family along with parasitology. Michael Gillette (talk) 03:19, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

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Origin of the Term?
It would be nice to have a note on both the origin of the expression tropical disease and the origin of university/hospital divisions using that term. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:7000:3902:B10A:C427:E001:258F:168F (talk) 22:13, 14 January 2021 (UTC)