Tshokey Tshokey, Ko Ablert I, Currie Bart J, Munoz-Zanzi Claudia, Goarant Cyrille, Paris Daniel H, Dance David A B, Limmathurotsakul Direk, Birnie Emma, Bertherat Eric, Gongal Gyanendra, Benschop Jackie, Savelkoel Jelmer, Stenos John, Saraswati Kartika, Robinson Matthew T, Day Nicholas P J, Graves Stephen R, Belmain Steven R, Blacksell Stuart D, Wiersinga Willem J
Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, University Hospital Geelong, Geelong, Australia.
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital, Thimphu, Bhutan.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2025 Jan 23;19(1):e0012796. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0012796. eCollection 2025 Jan.
The global priorities in the field of infectious diseases are constantly changing. While emerging viral infections have regularly dominated public health attention, which has only intensified after the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous bacterial diseases have previously caused, and continue to cause, significant morbidity and mortality-deserving equal attention. Three potentially life-threatening endemic bacterial diseases (leptospirosis, melioidosis, and rickettsioses) are a huge public health concern especially in low- and middle-income countries. Despite their continued threat, these diseases do not receive proportionate attention from global health organizations and are not even included on the WHO list of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). This, in turn, has led to a vicious circle of neglect with continued, yet conceivably preventable, hospitalizations and deaths each year especially in the vulnerable population. This is a call from a group of multi-institutional experts on the urgent need to directly address the circle of neglect and raise support in terms of funding, research, surveillance, diagnostics, and therapeutics to alleviate the burden of these 3 diseases.
传染病领域的全球重点在不断变化。虽然新出现的病毒感染经常主导着公共卫生领域的关注，在新冠疫情之后这种关注更是加剧，但许多细菌性疾病此前已经并仍在导致严重的发病和死亡，同样值得关注。三种潜在危及生命的地方性细菌性疾病（钩端螺旋体病、类鼻疽和立克次体病）是一个巨大的公共卫生问题，尤其是在低收入和中等收入国家。尽管这些疾病持续构成威胁，但全球卫生组织对它们的关注并不相称，甚至未被列入世界卫生组织的被忽视热带病名单。这反过来又导致了一个被忽视的恶性循环，每年都有持续发生且在很大程度上可预防的住院和死亡情况，尤其是在弱势群体中。这是一组多机构专家发出的呼吁，迫切需要直接解决这种被忽视的循环，并在资金、研究、监测、诊断和治疗方面加大支持力度，以减轻这三种疾病的负担。
