An ancient disease is creating 鈥渉avoc鈥� among one of the world鈥檚 most impoverished and neglected populations, aid workers are warning. And the plight of the African pygmies is worsened by a catalogue of other woes, including slavery and war, they say.
At least 3000 pygmies in the remote Likouala region of the Republic of Congo are threatened by 鈥渂ush yaws鈥�, also known as 鈥減ian鈥�, says the United Nations Children鈥檚 Fund (UNICEF). So far the agency鈥檚 team based in the capital Brazzaville has managed to treat only 135 people due to difficulties in reaching the pygmies鈥� remote forest dwellings and a lack of funding.
The highly contagious, flesh-eating disease, Treponema pertenue, is caused by a spiral-shaped bacterium related to syphilis. It is easily treated with a shot of penicillin and is disease primarily caused by poverty and lack of basic hygiene facilities. Access to soap and water is enough to prevent it.
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鈥淚t is not only horrible, but also a disease of disgrace because it eats away your flesh on your limbs and face,鈥� Raymond Janssens, UNICEF representative for Congo, told 快猫短视频. 鈥淭here are wet wounds, and they leak and infect other people in the family.鈥�
He notes: 鈥淎s one researcher said 鈥榩ian begins where the road ends鈥�. It affects really far away communities which have difficulty in accessing healthcare.鈥�
Skin and bone
鈥淭he situation is very, very serious,鈥� says Liliane Tumba, UNICEF鈥檚 administrator in Brazzaville, who led a preliminary mission to treat the pygmies in March. Her team is returning to the isolated forests in June. Just one shot of penicillin can clear up the lesions associated with yaws in four days, she says. 鈥淏ut people can die if untreated.鈥�
鈥淒eaths from yaws directly are rare but it can contribute to severe secondary bacterial skin and bloodstream infections and overall substantial debilitation,鈥� says Larry Lutwick, a moderator for the international infectious disease alert service ProMED mail. If untreated, yaws can leave permanent disfigurement and disability.
The pygmies鈥� situation is exacerbated by social and economic factors, say Tumba and Janssens. Deforestation has driven many pygmies from their traditional woodland homes in the last quarter of a century. Many now live in basic huts on the outskirts of Bantu villages where they are exploited as slaves, says Janssens. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really dreadful situation which the Congolese themselves have to address.鈥�
Marginalised and impoverished they do not have access to the most basic hygiene or healthcare, which is why yaws is so prevalent. 鈥淚t鈥檚 basically a question of personal hygiene, access to soap, clean water, washing clothes,鈥� he says.
Cannibalism threat
The lack of hygiene means that, even if treated, yaws can reinfect the pygmies, Tumba told 快猫短视频. Therefore, as well as treating bush yaws, UNICEF and the Congolese government also aim to improve health education and access for the pygmies.
Janssens points out that Congo has recently emerged from a decade of civil war. 鈥淭his is a factor which influences the situation negatively, some of these areas have been neglected and forgotten over years.鈥�
He believes pygmies in other countries like Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) may be suffering similarly. In DR Congo, the pygmies are suffering the additional threat of being cannibalised in the current civil war.
Yaws is an ancient disease. William Karesh, of the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York, US, who studies diseases in gorillas and chimpanzees in Congo and Gabon, believes that humans are its natural reservoir.
鈥淚t has been a human disease for possibly millions of years,鈥� he told 快猫短视频. Some of the earliest evidence includes 1.5 million-year-old hominid bones with lesions consistent with yaws in the Kenyan Museum, he says.