Four decades of achievement – highlights of the work of WHO Extract on Yaws in the first decade

Overview

One of the diseases singled out for special attack by WHO's membership was yaws, which afflicted some 50 million people. Virtually unknown outside the tropics, yaws is crippling and disfiguring disease caused by a treponeme — a germ of the same family as that which causes syphilis. Spread not sexually but by poor hygiene, yaws attacks children and leads to severe disability and loss of work capacity in young adults.

It was known that penicillin could cure yaws, but only through a course of treatment involving several injections — a luxury beyond the means of the poorer countries. In 1948 came a scientific breakthrough that the new World Health Organization was quick to seize on: long-acting penicillin, a single shot of which would be enough for cure. WHO promptly coordinated research to determine the best preparations and doses.