For "T. b. gambiense" the combination of nifurtimox and eflornithine (NECT) or eflornithine alone appear to be more effective and result in fewer side effects. These treatments may replace melarsoprol when available with the combination being first line. NECT has the benefit of requiring less injections of eflornithine.

Intravenous melarsoprol was previously the standard treatment for second-stage (neurological phase) disease and is effective for both types. Melarsoprol is the only treatment for second stage "T. b. rhodesiense"; however, it causes death in 5% of people who take it. Resistance to melarsoprol can occur.

The current treatment for first-stage disease is intravenous or intramuscular pentamidine for "T. b. gambiense" or intravenous suramin for "T. b. rhodesiense".

Stage I of the condition is usually treated with pentamidine or suramin through intramuscular injection or intravenous infusion if sufficient observation is possible. Stage II of the disease is typically treated with melarsoprol or eflornithine preferably introduced to the body intravenously. Both pentamidine and suramin have limited side effects. Melarsoprol is extremely effective but has many serious side effects which can cause neurological damage to a patient, however, the drug is often a patient's last hope in many late stage cases. Eflornithine is extremely expensive but has side effects that may be treated with ease. In regions of the world where the disease is common eflornithine is provided for free by the World Health Organization.

The use of trypanotolerant breeds for livestock farming should be considered if the disease is widespread.

Fly control is another option but is difficult to implement.

The main approaches to controlling African trypanosomiasis are to reduce the reservoirs of infection and the presence of the tsetse fly. Screening of people at risk helps identify patients at an early stage. Diagnosis should be made as early as possible and before the advanced stage to avoid complicated, difficult and risky treatment procedures.

If the outbreak is detected early, the organism can be destroyed by quarantines, movement controls, and maybe even put infected animals under euthanasia medication. Tsetse fly populations can be reduced or eliminated by traps, insecticides, and by treating infected animals with antiparasitic drugs. The Tse Tse habitat can be destroyed by alteration of vegetation so they can no longer live there.There are some drugs available that can prevent trypanosomiasis called prophylactic drugs.These drugs are very effective to protect animals during the times they are exposed to challenged diseases. Since they have been around for so long, some were not properly used which caused resistance to these drugs in some places.

As with many diseases in developing nations, (including trypanosomiasis and malaria) effective and affordable chemotherapy is sorely lacking and parasites or insect vectors are becoming increasingly resistant to existing anti-parasite drugs. Possibly due to the lack of financial return, new drugs are slow to emerge and much of the basic research into potential drug targets takes place in universities, funded by charitable organizations. Product Development Partnerships (PDPs) like Drugs for Neglected Diseases "initiatives" also work on the development of new treatments (combination treatments and new chemical entities) for visceral leishmaniasis.

The traditional treatment is with pentavalent antimonials such as sodium stibogluconate and meglumine antimoniate. Resistance is now common in India, and rates of resistance have been shown to be as high as 60% in parts of Bihar, India.

The treatment of choice for visceral leishmaniasis acquired in India is now Amphotericin B in its various liposomal preparations. In East Africa, the WHO recommended treatment is SSG&PM (sodium stibogluconate and paromomycin) developed by Drugs for Neglected Diseases "initiative" (DNDi)in 2010.

Miltefosine is the first oral treatment for this disease. The cure rate of miltefosine in Phase III clinical trials is 95%; Studies in Ethiopia show that is also effective in Africa. In HIV immunosuppressed people which are coinfected with leishmaniasis it has shown that even in resistant cases 2/3 of the people responded to this new treatment.

Miltefosine has received approval by the Indian regulatory authorities in 2002, in Germany in 2004 and in U.S.A. in 2014. It is now registered in many countries.

The drug is generally better tolerated than other drugs. Main side effects are gastrointestinal disturbance in the first or second day of treatment (a course of treatment is 28 days) which does not affect the efficacy. Because it is available as an oral formulation, the expense and inconvenience of hospitalization is avoided, and outpatient distribution of the drug becomes an option, making Miltefosine a drug of choice.

Incomplete treatment has been cited as a major reason of death from visceral leishmaniasis.

The nonprofit Institute for OneWorld Health has adopted the broad spectrum antibiotic paromomycin for use in treating VL; its antileishmanial properties were first identified in the 1980s. A treatment with paromomycin costs about $15 USD. The drug had originally been identified in the 1960s. The Indian government approved paromomycin for sale and use in August 2006.

There are no vaccines or preventive drugs for visceral leishmaniasis. The most effective method to prevent infection is to protect from sand fly bites. To decrease the risk of being bitten, these precautionary measures are suggested:

- Outdoors:

1. Avoid outdoor activities, especially from dusk to dawn, when sand flies generally are the most active.

2. When outdoors (or in unprotected quarters), minimize the amount of exposed (uncovered) skin to the extent that is tolerable in the climate. Wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and socks; and tuck your shirt into your pants.

3. Apply insect repellent to exposed skin and under the ends of sleeves and pant legs. Follow the instructions on the label of the repellent. The most effective repellents generally are those that contain the chemical DEET (N,N-diethylmetatoluamide).

- Indoors:

1. Stay in well-screened or air-conditioned areas.

2. Keep in mind that sand flies are much smaller than mosquitoes and therefore can get through smaller holes.

3. Spray living/sleeping areas with an insecticide to kill insects.

4. If you are not sleeping in a well-screened or air-conditioned area, use a bed net and tuck it under your mattress. If possible, use a bed net that has been soaked in or sprayed with a pyrethroid-containing insecticide. The same treatment can be applied to screens, curtains, sheets, and clothing (clothing should be retreated after five washings)."

On February 2012, the nonprofit Infectious Disease Research Institute launched a clinical trial of the visceral leishmaniasis vaccine. The vaccine is a recombinant form of two fused Leishmania parasite proteins with an adjuvant. Two phase 1 clinical trials with healthy volunteers are to be conducted. The first one takes place in Washington (state) and is followed by a trial in India.

The drug acetazolamide (trade name Diamox) may help some people making a rapid ascent to sleeping altitude above , and it may also be effective if started early in the course of AMS. Acetazolamide can be taken before symptoms appear as a preventive measure at a dose of 125 mg twice daily. The Everest Base Camp Medical Centre cautions against its routine use as a substitute for a reasonable ascent schedule, except where rapid ascent is forced by flying into high altitude locations or due to terrain considerations. The Centre suggests a dosage of 125 mg twice daily for prophylaxis, starting from 24 hours before ascending until a few days at the highest altitude or on descending; with 250 mg twice daily recommended for treatment of AMS. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest the same dose for prevention of 125 mg acetazolamide every 12 hours. Acetazolamide, a mild diuretic, works by stimulating the kidneys to secrete more bicarbonate in the urine, thereby acidifying the blood. This change in pH stimulates the respiratory center to increase the depth and frequency of respiration, thus speeding the natural acclimatization process. An undesirable side-effect of acetazolamide is a reduction in aerobic endurance performance. Other minor side effects include a tingle-sensation in hands and feet. Although a sulfonamide; acetazolamide is a non-antibiotic and has not been shown to cause life-threatening allergic cross-reactivity in those with a self-reported sulfonamide allergy. Dosage of 1000 mg/day will produce a 25% decrease in performance, on top of the reduction due to high-altitude exposure. The CDC advises that Dexamethasone be reserved for treatment of severe AMS and HACE during descents, and notes that Nifedipine may prevent HAPE.

A single randomized controlled trial found that sumatriptan may help prevent altitude sickness. Despite their popularity, antioxidant treatments have not been found to be effective medications for prevention of AMS. Interest in phosphodiesterase inhibitors such as sildenafil has been limited by the possibility that these drugs might worsen the headache of mountain sickness. A promising possible preventive for altitude sickness is myo-inositol trispyrophosphate (ITPP), which increases the amount of oxygen released by hemoglobin.

Prior to the onset of altitude sickness, ibuprofen is a suggested non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and painkiller that can help alleviate both the headache and nausea associated with AMS. It has not been studied for the prevention of cerebral edema (swelling of the brain) associated with extreme symptoms of AMS.

For centuries, indigenous peoples of the Americas such as the Aymaras of the Altiplano, have chewed coca leaves to try to alleviate the symptoms of mild altitude sickness. In Chinese and Tibetan traditional medicine, an extract of the root tissue of "Radix rhodiola" is often taken in order to prevent the same symptoms, though neither of these therapies has been proven effective in clinical study.

Some of the strategies for controlling tropical diseases include:

- Draining wetlands to reduce populations of insects and other vectors, or introducing natural predators of the vectors.

- The application of insecticides and/or insect repellents) to strategic surfaces such as clothing, skin, buildings, insect habitats, and bed nets.

- The use of a mosquito net over a bed (also known as a "bed net") to reduce nighttime transmission, since certain species of tropical mosquitoes feed mainly at night.

- Use of water wells, and/or water filtration, water filters, or water treatment with water tablets to produce drinking water free of parasites.

- Sanitation to prevent transmission through human waste.

- In situations where vectors (such as mosquitoes) have become more numerous as a result of human activity, a careful investigation can provide clues: for example, open dumps can contain stagnant water that encourage disease vectors to breed. Eliminating these dumps can address the problem. An education campaign can yield significant benefits at low cost.

- Development and use of vaccines to promote disease immunity.

- Pharmacologic pre-exposure prophylaxis (to prevent disease before exposure to the environment and/or vector).

- Pharmacologic post-exposure prophylaxis (to prevent disease after exposure to the environment and/or vector).

- Pharmacologic treatment (to treat disease after infection or infestation).

- Assisting with economic development in endemic regions. For example, by providing microloans to enable investments in more efficient and productive agriculture. This in turn can help subsistence farming to become more profitable, and these profits can be used by local populations for disease prevention and treatment, with the added benefit of reducing the poverty rate.

- Hospital for Tropical Diseases

- Tropical medicine

- Infectious disease

- Neglected diseases

- List of epidemics

- Waterborne diseases

- Globalization and disease

There is currently no treatment for AHS.

Control of an outbreak in an endemic region involves quarantine, vector control and vaccination. To prevent this disease, the affected horses are usually slaughtered, and the uninfected horses are vaccinated against the virus. Three vaccines currently exist, which include a polyvalent vaccine, a monovalent vaccine, and a monovalent inactivated vaccine. This disease can also be prevented by destroying the insect vector habitats using insecticides.

Biotechnology companies in the developing world have targeted neglected tropical diseases due to need to improve global health.

Mass drug administration is considered a possible method for eradication, especially for lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, and trachoma, although drug resistance is a potential problem. According to Fenwick, Pfizer donated 70 million doses of drugs in 2011 to eliminate trachoma through the International Trachoma Initiative. Merck has helped The African Programme for the Control of Onchocerciasis (APOC) and Oncho Elimination Programme for the Americas to greatly diminished the effect of Onchocerciasis by donating ivermectin. Merck KGaA pledged to give 200 million tablets of praziquantel over 10 years, the only cure for schistosomiasis. GlaxoSmithKline has donated two billion tablets of medicine for lymphatic filariasis and pledged 400 million deworming tablets per year for five years in 2010. Johnson & Johnson has pledged 200 million deworming tablets per year. Novartis has pledged leprosy treatment, EISAI pledged two billion tablets to help treat lymphatic filariasis.

Inclusion of NTDs into initiatives for malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis, as well as integration of NTD treatment programs, may have advantages given the strong link between these diseases and NTDs. Some neglected tropical diseases share common vectors (sandflies, black flies, and mosquitos). Both medicinal and vector control efforts may be combined.

A four-drug rapid-impact package has been proposed for widespread proliferation. Administration may be made more efficient by targeting multiple diseases at once, rather than separating treatment and adding work to community workers. This package is estimated to cost US$0.40 per patient. When compared to stand-alone treatment, the savings are estimated to be 26–47%. While more research must be done in order to understand how NTDs and other diseases interact in both the vector and the human stages, safety assessments have so far produced positive results.

Many neglected tropical diseases and other prevalent diseases share common vectors, creating another opportunity for treatment and control integration. One such example of this is malaria and lymphatic filariasis. Both diseases are transmitted by the same or related mosquito vectors. Vector control, through the distribution of insecticide treated nets, reduces the human contact with a wide variety of disease vectors. Integrated vector control may also alleviate pressure on mass drug administration, especially with respect to rapidly evolving drug resistance. Combining vector control and mass drug administration deemphasizes both, making each less susceptible to resistance evolution.

Medications that may alleviate the symptoms of airsickness include:

- meclozine

- dimenhydrinate

- diphenhydramine

- scopolamine (available in both patch and oral form).

Pilots who are susceptible to airsickness should not take anti-motion sickness medications (prescription or over-the-counter). These medications can make one drowsy or affect brain functions in other ways.

The only reliable treatment, and in many cases the only option available, is to descend. Attempts to treat or stabilize the patient "in situ" (at altitude) are dangerous unless highly controlled and with good medical facilities. However, the following treatments have been used when the patient's location and circumstances permit:

- Oxygen may be used for mild to moderate AMS below and is commonly provided by physicians at mountain resorts. Symptoms abate in 12 to 36 hours without the need to descend.

- For more serious cases of AMS, or where rapid descent is impractical, a Gamow bag, a portable plastic hyperbaric chamber inflated with a foot pump, can be used to reduce the effective altitude by as much as . A Gamow bag is generally used only as an aid to evacuate severe AMS patients, not to treat them at altitude.

- Acetazolamide 250 mg twice daily dosing assists in AMS treatment by quickening altitude acclimatization. A study by the Denali Medical Research Project concluded: "In established cases of acute mountain sickness, treatment with acetazolamide relieves symptoms, improves arterial oxygenation, and prevents further impairment of pulmonary gas exchange."

- The folk remedy for altitude sickness in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia is a tea made from the coca plant. See mate de coca.

- Steroids can be used to treat the symptoms of pulmonary or cerebral edema, but do not treat the underlying AMS.

- Two studies in 2012 showed that Ibuprofen 600 milligrams three times daily was effective at decreasing the severity and incidence of AMS; it was not clear if HAPE or HACE was affected.

There are numerous alternative remedies for motion sickness. One such is ginger, but it is ineffective.

They are treated with antiprotozoal agents. Recent papers have also proposed the use of viruses to treat infections caused by protozoa.

All cases of decompression sickness should be treated initially with 100% oxygen until hyperbaric oxygen therapy (100% oxygen delivered in a high-pressure chamber) can be provided. Mild cases of the "bends" and some skin symptoms may disappear during descent from high altitude; however, it is recommended that these cases still be evaluated. Neurological symptoms, pulmonary symptoms, and mottled or marbled skin lesions should be treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy if seen within 10 to 14 days of development.

Recompression on air was shown to be an effective treatment for minor DCS symptoms by Keays in 1909. Evidence of the effectiveness of recompression therapy utilizing oxygen was first shown by Yarbrough and Behnke, and has since become the standard of care for treatment of DCS. Recompression is normally carried out in a recompression chamber. At a dive site, a riskier alternative is in-water recompression.

Oxygen first aid has been used as an emergency treatment for diving injuries for years. If given within the first four hours of surfacing, it increases the success of recompression therapy as well as decreasing the number of recompression treatments required. Most fully closed-circuit rebreathers can deliver sustained high concentrations of oxygen-rich breathing gas and could be used as a means of supplying oxygen if dedicated equipment is not available.

It is beneficial to give fluids, as this helps reduce dehydration. It is no longer recommended to administer aspirin, unless advised to do so by medical personnel, as analgesics may mask symptoms. People should be made comfortable and placed in the supine position (horizontal), or the recovery position if vomiting occurs. In the past, both the Trendelenburg position and the left lateral decubitus position (Durant's maneuver) have been suggested as beneficial where air emboli are suspected, but are no longer recommended for extended periods, owing to concerns regarding cerebral edema.

The duration of recompression treatment depends on the severity of symptoms, the dive history, the type of recompression therapy used and the patient's response to the treatment. One of the more frequently used treatment schedules is the US Navy Table 6, which provides hyperbaric oxygen therapy with a maximum pressure equivalent to of seawater for a total time under pressure of 288 minutes, of which 240 minutes are on oxygen and the balance are air breaks to minimise the possibility of oxygen toxicity.

A multiplace chamber is the preferred facility for treatment of decompression sickness as it allows direct physical access to the patient by medical personnel, but monoplace chambers are more widely available and should be used for treatment if a multiplace chamber is not available or transportation would cause significant delay in treatment, as the interval between onset of symptoms and recompression is important to the quality of recovery. It may be necessary to modify the optimum treatment schedule to allow use of a monoplace chamber, but this is usually better than delaying treatment. A US Navy treatment table 5 can be safely performed without air breaks if a built-in breathing system is not available. In most cases the patient can be adequately treated in a monoplace chamber at the receiving hospital.

Over-the-counter and prescription medications are readily available, such as dimenhydrinate, scopolamine, meclizine, promethazine, cyclizine, and cinnarizine. Cinnarizine is not available in the United States, as it is not approved by the FDA. As these medications often have side effects, anyone involved in high-risk activities while at sea (such as SCUBA divers) must evaluate the risks versus the benefits. Promethazine is especially known to cause drowsiness, which is often counteracted by ephedrine in a combination known as "the Coast Guard cocktail.". There are special considerations to be aware of when the common anti-motion sickness medications are used in the military setting where performance must be maintained at a high level.

Scopolamine is effective and is sometimes used in the form of transdermal patches (1.5 mg) or as a newer tablet form (0.4 mg). The selection of a transdermal patch or scopolamine tablet is determined by a doctor after consideration of the patient's age, weight, and length of treatment time required.

Many pharmacological treatments which are effective for nausea and vomiting in some medical conditions may not be effective for motion sickness. For example, metoclopramide and prochlorperazine, although widely used for nausea, are ineffective for motion-sickness prevention and treatment. This is due to the physiology of the CNS vomiting centre and its inputs from the chemoreceptor trigger zone versus the inner ear. Sedating anti-histamine medications such as promethazine work quite well for motion sickness, although they can cause significant drowsiness.

Ginger root is commonly thought to be an effective anti-emetic, but it is ineffective in treating motion sickness.

The incubation period ranges from 4 days to approximately 8 weeks. The infection leads to significant weight loss and anaemia. Various symptoms are observed, including fever, oedema, adenitis, dermatitis and nervous disorders. The disease cannot be diagnosed with certainty except physically detecting parasites by blood microscopic examination or various serological reactions.

African horse sickness was diagnosed in Spain in 1987–90 and in Portugal in 1989, but was eradicated using slaughter policies, movement restrictions, vector eradication, and vaccination.

As astronauts frequently have motion sickness, NASA has done extensive research on the causes and treatments for motion sickness. One very promising looking treatment is for the person suffering from motion sickness to wear LCD shutter glasses that create a stroboscopic vision of 4 Hz with a dwell of 10 milliseconds.

Tropical diseases are diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropical and subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, which controls the insect population by forcing hibernation. However, many were present in northern Europe and northern America in the 17th and 18th centuries before modern understanding of disease causation. The initial impetus for tropical medicine was to protect the health of colonialists, notably in India under the British Raj. Insects such as mosquitoes and flies are by far the most common disease carrier, or vector. These insects may carry a parasite, bacterium or virus that is infectious to humans and animals. Most often disease is transmitted by an insect "bite", which causes transmission of the infectious agent through subcutaneous blood exchange. Vaccines are not available for most of the diseases listed here, and many do not have cures.

Human exploration of tropical rainforests, deforestation, rising immigration and increased international air travel and other tourism to tropical regions has led to an increased incidence of such diseases.

The term Winterbottom's sign derives from descriptions of the posterior cervical lymphadenopathy associated with African trypanosomiasis made by a slave trader using the sign to weed out the ill.

One of the most significant breakthroughs in the prevention of altitude DCS is oxygen pre-breathing. Breathing pure oxygen significantly reduces the nitrogen loads in body tissues by reducing the partial pressure of nitrogen in the lungs, which induces diffusion of nitrogen from the blood into the breathing gas, and this effect eventually lowers the concentration of nitrogen in the other tissues of the body. If continued for long enough, and without interruption, this provides effective protection upon exposure to low-barometric pressure environments. However, breathing pure oxygen during flight alone (ascent, en route, descent) does not decrease the risk of altitude DCS as the time required for ascent is generally not sufficient to significantly desaturate the slower tissues.

Although pure oxygen pre-breathing is an effective method to protect against altitude DCS, it is logistically complicated and expensive for the protection of civil aviation flyers, either commercial or private. Therefore, it is currently used only by military flight crews and astronauts for protection during high-altitude and space operations. It is also used by flight test crews involved with certifying aircraft, and may also be used for high-altitude parachute jumps.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station preparing for extra-vehicular activity (EVA) "camp out" at low atmospheric pressure, , spending eight sleeping hours in the Quest airlock chamber before their spacewalk. During the EVA they breathe 100% oxygen in their spacesuits, which operate at , although research has examined the possibility of using 100% O at in the suits to lessen the pressure reduction, and hence the risk of DCS.

Treatment of diving disorders depends on the specific disorder or combination of disorders, but two treatments are commonly associated with first aid and definitive treatment where diving is involved. These are first aid oxygen administration at high concentration, which is seldom contraindicated, and generally recommended as a default option in diving accidents where there is any significant probability of hypoxia, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO), which is the definitive treatment for most incidences of decompression illness. Hyperbaric treatment on other breathing gases is also used for treatment of decompression sickness if HBO is inadequate.