“Barriers” to Child Development and Human Potential: The Case for Including the “Neglected Enteric Protozoa” (NEP) and Other Enteropathy-Associated Pathogens in the NTDs. PLoS Negl Trop Dis, April 2013.
Bartelt LA, Lima AAM, Kosek M, Peñataro Yori P, Lee G, et al.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set forth ambitious efforts to control, and where possible, eliminate the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that contribute to poverty and “impair the ability of those infected to achieve their full potential, both developmentally and socio-economically” [1], [2]. This neglected disease initiative’s (NDI) purpose has been to close the existing poverty gap between individuals living in low/middle-income and high-income countries, and thus facilitate the achievement of the 2000 Millennium Developmental Goals [3]. The gap is still large. Yet, some marked achievements of the NDI, including coordinated administration of preventive chemotherapy to nearly 670 million children globally and the imminent elimination of dracunculiasis, give hope that the WHO’s NTD paradigm, a “five-pronged” approach of 1) preventive chemotherapy, 2) intensified case-management, 3) vector control, 4) provision of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene, and 5) veterinary public health, are proving beneficial [1].
Malnutrition and unfulfilled human potential are widely prevalent among the 1.4 billion people also afflicted by the principal NTDs. Over the last decade, we have become increasingly aware that alterations in intestinal function not only associate with malnutrition, but are likely one of its driving forces. It was recognized half a century ago that children in developing countries had intestinal mucosa that showed morphological flattening [4] and malabsorption [5] that were reversible upon exposure to a cleaner environment. Similarly, Lindenbaum also showed in the 1960s that Peace Corps volunteers with diarrhea and malnutrition had biochemical markers of malabsorption: 40% had decreased d-xylose levels, and 52% had low Schilling tests. Moreover, 88% of intestinal biopsies from these volunteers showed mild to moderate jejunitis with decreased villus:crypt ratios [6].
