Nonhuman primates across sub-Saharan Africa are infected with the yaws bacterium Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue

Knauf, Sascha; Gogarten, Jan F; Schuenemann, Verena J; De Nys, Hélène M; et al

doi:10.1038/s41426-018-0156-4

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Knauf, S., Gogarten, J. F., Schuenemann, V. J., De Nys, H. M., & et al. (2018). Nonhuman primates across sub-Saharan Africa are infected with the yaws bacterium Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue. Emerging Microbes and Infections, 7(1), 157. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41426-018-0156-4

Abstract

The bacterium Treponema pallidum (TP) causes human syphilis (subsp. pallidum; TPA), bejel (subsp. endemicum; TEN), and yaws (subsp. pertenue; TPE)1. Although syphilis has reached a worldwide distribution2, bejel and yaws have remained endemic diseases. Bejel affects individuals in dry areas of Sahelian Africa and Saudi Arabia, whereas yaws affects those living in the humid tropics1. Yaws is currently reported as endemic in 14 countries, and an additional 84 countries have a known history of yaws but lack recent epidemiological data3,4