University Affairs - A forgotten scourge
The world’s neglected tropical diseases debilitate or kill more than one billion people worldwide. But there is hope as a small number of researchers in Canada and elsewhere join the battle to reduce the heavy burden of illness…
In Montreal, another dedicated researcher is Brian Ward, chief of the infectious diseases division at the McGill University Health Centre. He’s using new technology to identify diagnostic and prognostic indicators for a number of NTDs, including Chagas disease, dengue fever and a serious flatworm-transmitted infection called schistosomiasis that can damage vital organs like the liver.
“In many countries, especially Egypt, huge numbers are co-infected with hepatitis C and schistosomiasis, and this combination dramatically accelerates liver damage,” says Dr. Ward.
