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

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. Although this disease was subject to global eradication efforts in the mid-20th century, it later reemerged in West Africa, Southern Asia, and the Pacific region5. New large-scale treatment options triggered the ongoing second eradication campaign, the goal of which is to eradicate yaws globally by 20205.