Tropical Medicine & Surgery

Approaches to Tropical Medicine of Various Challenges and Outcomes of Death Causes of Tropical Health

Lise Meier^* Department of Medicine, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Falmer, Sussex BN1 9PS, UK
^*Correspondence: Lise Meier, Department of Medicine, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Falmer, Sussex BN1 9PS, UK, Email:

Received: 01-Aug-2022, Manuscript No. TPMS-22-18283; Editor assigned: 05-Aug-2022, Pre QC No. TPMS-22-18283(PQ); Reviewed: 18-Aug-2022, QC No. TPMS-22-18283; Revised: 25-Aug-2022, Manuscript No. TPMS-22-18283(R); Published: 02-Sep-2022

Description

The practise of medicine in the tropics between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn is known as tropical medicine. It includes both infectious diseases like HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and other neglected tropical diseases, as well as non-infectious causes like snakebites, cancers, malnutrition, and nutrient deficiencies.

Sir Patrick Manson is widely regarded as the founder of tropical medicine. In 1899, he established the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is credited with identifying the vector through which elephantiasis was transmitted to humans. He discovered it was a filaria sanguinis hominis, a microscopic nematode worm. He continued to research this worm and its life cycle, discovering that the worms metamorphosed within female culex fatigans mosquitoes. As a result, he identified mosquitos as a vector for elephantiasis. Following this discovery, he collaborated with Ronald Ross to investigate malaria transmission via mosquito vector. His discovery of vectors as modes of transmission was crucial in the development of tropical medicine and our current understanding of many tropical diseases.

Challenges of tropical medicine

Non-communicable diseases: Noncommunicable diseases are a group of chronic illnesses that include, among other things, cardiovascular disease, cancer, injuries, and respiratory diseases. Historically, developed countries have been far more affected by these diseases than developing countries. According to the 2001 Global Burden of Disease Study, noncommunicable diseases were responsible for 20% of deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa. The World Health Organization conducted a study in 2005 that revealed that 80% of chronic disease deaths occurred in low to middle income countries. For a variety of reasons, the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases is increasing in developing countries. In developing countries, a lack of education and preventive medicine, as well as malnutrition or a poor diet, all contribute to a high risk of noncommunicable diseases.

Neglected tropical diseases: The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified 18 tropical diseases as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which affect over a billion people worldwide, primarily in developing countries. These diseases are heterogeneous, which means that they originate outside of the organism affected by the disease. Parasites, viruses, and bacteria cause NTDs. NTDs are often overlooked because they are not fatal on their own but are disabling. People who have these diseases are more vulnerable to other NTDs and fatal diseases like HIV or malaria. HIV and tropical infections both have mutual effects. HIV infection can change the natural history of tropical infectious diseases, make rapid diagnosis more difficult, and reduce the efficacy of anti-parasitic treatment. Tropical infections may aid in HIV transmission and hasten the progression from asymptomatic HIV infection to AIDS. The data on known interactions for malaria, leishmaniasis, human African trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, and intestinal helminthiasis.

Changes in life expectancy and causes of death can be used to track changes in health and wellbeing outcomes. Life expectancy has increased significantly around the world in the last century. Between 1950 and 2015, global life expectancy increased by nearly 24 years, and it surpassed 70 years of age between 2010 and 2015. In the middle of the twentieth century, the majority of tropical countries' life expectancy at birth was less than 50 years, with some national estimates falling below 30 years. Despite continuing to lag behind the rest of the world, and with a few exceptions, most tropical countries had a life expectancy at birth of more than 60 years in 2015.

The tropical regions are defined by its diversity, as it contains the majority of the world's biological and cultural diversity, as well as a variety of socio-political and economic systems. Despite this, the regions in this zone are linked by common characteristics and challenges. To facilitate meaningful analyses and reporting, groupings can be developed in a variety of ways, including by climate (wet, dry, or temperate Tropics) or by national borders. Because the vast majority of available data is reported on a national scale, it makes sense to group 'nations' into regional groups. The following are the regional groups (the nations in each region are listed in Appendix A):

• Africa, Central and Southern

• Northern Africa and the Middle East

• The Caribbean

• Central and South America

• Oceania