Lessons in Parasitology and Tropical Diseases Quiz

Answer: Yellow fever

Yellow fever was brought to America when slaves were introduced in the New World, as it originated in Africa. Its only hosts are the mosquitoes and primates. When the Panama Canal was being built, the United States created a commission directed by Doctor Walter Reed who gave credit to Doctor Finlay, a Cuban doctor who discovered the mosquito transmitted the disease.

The US government eliminated the areas where the mosquito reproduced and the mortality rate was dramatically reduced during the building of the Panama Canal.

Answer: Malaria

This disease infects 400 million people a year. There are some serious cases of malaria. The mosquito introduces its saliva, where the parasite lives, into the circulatory system of the person and then the parasite travels to the liver, where it reproduces. In many cases the infected human can die or suffer shivering and fever after the disease has passed.

Answer: Sleeping sickness

This disease is limited to Africa but travelers that visit the continent are susceptible of acquiring it if visiting agricultural areas or small towns in Central Africa. This disease is endemic in 36 countries inhabited by 60 million people. Although many cases are not known, several thousand people die of this disease every year.

Answer: Dengue fever

Each year, there are about one hundred thousand people infected with dengue fever. The highest risk areas are India, Southeast Asia, South China, South America near the Equator and the Caribbean. There is also risk even in the United States around the border with Mexico and the south of Florida.

Answer: Elephantiasis

Today, over one billion people in 73 countries are susceptible to getting this disease and more than 120 million are suffering from it. The disease is usually acquired during childhood but the extreme enlargement of the limbs occurs later in life.

Answer: Leprosy

It was always believed that leprosy was acquired with contact with an infected person. Now, many doctors believe that it could also be transmitted by "the respiratory route", as stated by the World Health Organization. Leprosy can occur anywhere, but is more common in the tropic and subtropical areas.

Answer: Baghdad ulcers or Delhi boils

The Baghdad ulcer infects more than twelve million people every year. The ulcers typical of this disease could reappear many years after treatment, even in cases where adequate treatment has been received. There is a variation of this disease called mucocutaneous leishmaniasis which causes permanent damage in the face, causing its disfigurement.

Answer: Chagas' disease

The insect transmitting the parasite lives in Central and South America and lives in houses made of adobe and dark corners where mice and rats are found. Some scientists think that Darwin could have suffered of Chagas' Disease by the symptoms he had during the last years of his life, after he came back from his trip to South America.

Answer: River blindness

I read on the CNN website that river blindness, although it does not kill, it causes a miserable life.
"You can imagine how bad the itching must be, that running a red-hot machete up and down your back would be a relief, but it was" says Thomas Unnassch remembering a visit to Liberia in the 1980's. (Information obtained from www.CNN.com.)
According to the World Health Organization, eighteen million people have some form of this disease and most of them are in Africa.

Answer: Snail fever

This disease is very common in Egypt mainly around the areas near the Nile. We also find it in Brazil near the Amazon. The parasites causing this disease were featured by Animal Planet in a documentary called "Monsters Inside Me".