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The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of 17 communicable diseases which occur primarily in tropical and subtropical climates, affecting over 149 countries and one billion people globally. These diseases are considered “neglected” because they disproportionately affect people living in poverty, and until recently, were largely overlooked by the international community. Over the past several years, there have been major advances in the areas of advocacy, control implementation funding, and drug donation for NTDs. Many new tools are available for NTD diagnosis and control, and the goal of controlling, or in some cases, eliminating them as a public health problem is becoming more feasible. In order to ensure the most effective and efficient use of the monetary and pharmaceutical commitments to the fight against NTDs, evidence-based research (performed in conjunction with country-based control implementation programmes) must constantly be taking place to evaluate NTD control strategies.
The London Centre for Neglected Tropical Disease Research (LCNTDR) was launched in 2013 with the aim of providing focused operational and research support for NTD control. The LCNTDR, a joint initiative of the Natural History Museum, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the Royal Veterinary College, the Partnership for Child Development, the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, and Imperial College London, undertakes interdisciplinary research to build the evidence base around the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of NTD control and elimination programmes.
This series features recent advances in scientific research for NTD control executed by LCNTDR member institutions and their collaborators. It aims to highlight the wide range of work being undertaken by the LCNTDR towards achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals as well as supporting the objectives of the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Collection published: 27 January 2016
View all collections published in Parasites & Vectors
Research article
Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) are still highly prevalent in southeast Asia. The country of Myanmar has had ongoing mass drug administration (MDA) programmes since 2003 in an attempt to control STH and reduc...
Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:374
Published on: 4 August 2017
Research
There is an increased focus on whether mass drug administration (MDA) programmes alone can interrupt the transmission of soil-transmitted helminths (STH). Mathematical models can be used to model these interve...
Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:321
Published on: 30 June 2017
Research
There is currently no vaccine available to protect humans against infection with the schistosome digenean parasites, although candidate formulations for Schistosoma mansoni are under trial in animal models, inclu...
Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:294
Published on: 17 June 2017
Research
Systematic non-compliance to chemotherapeutic treatment among a portion of the eligible population is thought to be a major obstacle to the elimination of helminth infections by mass drug administration (MDA)....
Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:291
Published on: 12 June 2017
Research
Understanding and quantifying the sources and implications of error in the measurement of helminth egg intensity using Kato-Katz (KK) and the newly emerging “gold standard” quantitative polymerase chain reacti...
Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:256
Published on: 25 May 2017
Research
Current WHO guidelines for soil-transmitted helminth (STH) control focus on mass drug administration (MDA) targeting preschool-aged (pre-SAC) and school-aged children (SAC), with the goal of eliminating STH as...
Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:254
Published on: 23 May 2017
Research
The majority of schistosomiasis control programmes focus on targeting school-aged children. Expanding the use of community-wide mass treatment to reach more adults is under consideration. However, it should be...
Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:213
Published on: 28 April 2017
Review
Stimulated by the increasing recent use of ‘K’ or ‘rK’ nomenclature for antigens reported for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) diagnostic serology, we wished to give a chronological synopsis of their reporting and ...
Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:178
Published on: 13 April 2017
Research
Ocular Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) infection causes trachoma, the leading infectious cause of blindness. A Ct D/UW3 proteome microarray and sera from Gambian adults with trachomatous trichiasis (TT) or healthy mat...
Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:143
Published on: 13 March 2017
Research
A method is outlined for the use of an individual-based stochastic model of parasite transmission dynamics to assess different designs for a cluster randomized trial in which mass drug administration (MDA) is ...
Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:93
Published on: 17 February 2017
Research
Globally, in 2010, approximately 1.5 billion people were infected with at least one species of soil-transmitted helminth (STH), Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, hookworm (Ancylostoma duodenale and Necat...
Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:91
Published on: 17 February 2017
Research
The pork tapeworm, Taenia solium, and associated human infections, taeniasis, cysticercosis and neurocysticercosis, are serious public health problems, especially in developing countries. The World Health Organiz...
Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:73
Published on: 9 February 2017
Research
Elimination of urogenital schistosomiasis transmission is a priority for the Zanzibar Ministry of Health. Preventative chemotherapy together with additional control interventions have successfully alleviated m...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:646
Published on: 16 December 2016
Research
Understanding whether schistosomiasis control programmes are on course to control morbidity and potentially switch towards elimination interventions would benefit from user-friendly quantitative tools that fac...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:543
Published on: 12 October 2016
Research
Vector-biting behaviour is important for vector-borne disease (VBD) epidemiology. The proportion of blood meals taken on humans (the human blood index, HBI), is a component of the biting rate per vector on hum...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:432
Published on: 5 August 2016
Research
Trusted literate, or semi-literate, community drug distributors (CDDs) are the primary implementers in integrated preventive chemotherapy (IPC) programmes for Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) control. The CDDs...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:345
Published on: 16 June 2016
Research
The African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control has proposed provisional thresholds for the prevalence of microfilariae in humans and of L3 larvae in blackflies, below which mass drug administration (MDA) wit...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:343
Published on: 14 June 2016
Research
Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is an important metabolic enzyme of schistosomes present in the musculature and on the surface of the blood stage where it has been implicated in the modulation of glucose scavengin...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:328
Published on: 10 June 2016
Research
Brucella melitensis causes production losses in ruminants and febrile disease in humans in Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere. Although traditionally understood to aff...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:55
Published on: 30 January 2016
Research
Animal African trypanosomiasis (AAT) is one of the biggest constraints to livestock production and a threat to food security in sub-Saharan Africa. In order to optimise the allocation of resources for AAT cont...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:53
Published on: 30 January 2016
Review
Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections of humans fall within the World Health Organization’s (WHO) grouping termed the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). It is estimated that they affect approximately 1.4...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:31
Published on: 27 January 2016
Research
The clinical outcomes associated with Chagas disease remain poorly understood. In addition to the burden of morbidity, the burden of mortality due to Trypanosoma cruzi infection can be substantial, yet its quanti...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:42
Published on: 27 January 2016
Review
Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a neglected vector-borne disease. In India, it is transmitted to humans by Leishmania donovani-infected Phlebotomus argentipes sand flies. In 2005, VL was targeted for elimination b...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:25
Published on: 27 January 2016
Research
Schistosomiasis affects more than 800 million people, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. A baseline sentinel site study was conducted in the Western half of Madagascar to determine the prevalence and intensity of s...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:50
Published on: 27 January 2016
Research
By 2020, the global health community aims to control and eliminate human helminthiases, including schistosomiasis in selected African countries, principally by preventive chemotherapy (PCT) through mass drug a...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:41
Published on: 27 January 2016
Research
Although chronic morbidity in humans from soil transmitted helminth (STH) infections can be reduced by anthelmintic treatment, inconsistent diagnostic tools make it difficult to reliably measure the impact of ...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:38
Published on: 27 January 2016
Review
To assess the extent to which climate may affect the abundance of Musca sorbens, a putative vector of trachoma.
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:48
Published on: 27 January 2016
Review
Preventive chemotherapy (PCT) programmes are used to control five of the highest burden neglected tropical diseases (NTDs): soil-transmitted helminth infections (hookworm, ascariasis, and trichuriasis), lympha...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:29
Published on: 27 January 2016
Research
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set goals for onchocerciasis elimination in Latin America by 2015. Most of the six previously endemic countries are attaining this goal by implementing twice a year (and...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:40
Published on: 27 January 2016
Research
Trachoma is a blinding disease caused by conjunctival infection with Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct). Mass drug administration (MDA) for trachoma control is administered based on the population prevalence of the clini...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:30
Published on: 27 January 2016
Research
Biannual mass drug administration (MDA) with praziquantel and additional interventions to eliminate urogenital schistosomiasis has been implemented on the Zanzibar islands, United Republic of Tanzania, since 2...
Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:5
Published on: 4 January 2016
Research
The WHO treatment guidelines for the soil-transmitted helminths (STH) focus on targeting children for the control of morbidity induced by heavy infections. However, unlike the other STHs, the majority of hookw...
Parasites & Vectors 2015 8:570
Published on: 5 November 2015
Short Report
Accurate diagnosis of urogenital schistosomiasis is vital for surveillance/control programs. Amplification of schistosome DNA in urine by PCR is sensitive and specific but requires infrastructure, financial re...
Parasites & Vectors 2015 8:446
Published on: 4 September 2015
Short Report
Human urogenital schistosomiasis caused by Schistosoma haematobium is widely distributed across Africa and is increasingly targeted for control and regional elimination. The development of new high-throughput, co...
Parasites & Vectors 2015 8:432
Published on: 20 August 2015
The Erratum to this article has been published in Parasites & Vectors 2015 8:519
