Deworming treatments in infected children may have some nutritional benefit, as worms are often partially responsible for malnutrition. However, in areas where these infections are common, there is strong evidence that mass deworming campaigns do not have a positive effect on children's average nutritional status, levels of blood haemoglobin, cognitive abilities, performance at school or survival. To achieve health gains in the longer term, improvements in sanitation and hygiene behaviours are also required, together with deworming treatments.

Chagas disease affects 8 to 10 million people living in endemic Latin American countries, with an additional 300,000–400,000 living in nonendemic countries, including Spain and the United States. An estimated 41,200 new cases occur annually in endemic countries, and 14,400 infants are born with congenital Chagas disease annually. in 2010 it resulted in approximately 10,300 deaths up from 9,300 in 1990.

The disease is present in 18 countries on the American continents, ranging from the southern United States to northern Argentina. Chagas exists in two different ecological zones. In the Southern Cone region, the main vector lives in and around human homes. In Central America and Mexico, the main vector species lives both inside dwellings and in uninhabited areas. In both zones, Chagas occurs almost exclusively in rural areas, where triatomines breed and feed on the more than 150 species from 24 families of domestic and wild mammals, as well as humans, that are the natural reservoirs of "T. cruzi".

Although Triatominae bugs feed on them, birds appear to be immune to infection and therefore are not considered to be a "T. cruzi" reservoir. Even when colonies of insects are eradicated from a house and surrounding domestic animal shelters, they can re-emerge from plants or animals that are part of the ancient, sylvatic (referring to wild animals) infection cycle. This is especially likely in zones with mixed open savannah, with clumps of trees interspersed by human habitation.

The primary wildlife reservoirs for "Trypanosoma cruzi" in the United States include opossums, raccoons, armadillos, squirrels, woodrats, and mice. Opossums are particularly important as reservoirs, because the parasite can complete its life cycle in the anal glands of this animal without having to re-enter the insect vector. Recorded prevalence of the disease in opossums in the U.S. ranges from 8.3% to 37.5%.

Studies on raccoons in the Southeast have yielded infection rates ranging from 47% to as low as 15.5%. Armadillo prevalence studies have been described in Louisiana, and range from a low of 1.1% to 28.8%. Additionally, small rodents, including squirrels, mice, and rats, are important in the sylvatic transmission cycle because of their importance as bloodmeal sources for the insect vectors. A Texas study revealed 17.3% percent "T. cruzi" prevalence in 75 specimens representing four separate small rodent species.

Chronic Chagas disease remains a major health problem in many Latin American countries, despite the effectiveness of hygienic and preventive measures, such as eliminating the transmitting insects. However, several landmarks have been achieved in the fight against it in Latin America, including a reduction by 72% of the incidence of human infection in children and young adults in the countries of the Southern Cone Initiative, and at least three countries (Uruguay, in 1997, and Chile, in 1999, and Brazil in 2006) have been certified free of vectorial and transfusional transmission. In Argentina, vectorial transmission has been interrupted in 13 of the 19 endemic provinces, and major progress toward this goal has also been made in both Paraguay and Bolivia.

Screening of donated blood, blood components, and solid organ donors, as well as donors of cells, tissues, and cell and tissue products for "T. cruzi" is mandated in all Chagas-endemic countries and has been implemented. Approximately 300,000 infected people live in the United States, which is likely the result of immigration from Latin American countries, and there have been 23 cases acquired from kissing bugs in the United States reported between 1955 and 2014. With increased population movements, the possibility of transmission by blood transfusion became more substantial in the United States. Transfusion blood and tissue products are now actively screened in the U.S., thus addressing and minimizing this risk.

There is currently no vaccine against Chagas disease. Prevention is generally focused on decreasing the numbers of the insect that spreads it ("Triatoma") and decreasing their contact with humans. This is done by using sprays and paints containing insecticides (synthetic pyrethroids), and improving housing and sanitary conditions in rural areas. For urban dwellers, spending vacations and camping out in the wilderness or sleeping at hostels or mud houses in endemic areas can be dangerous; a mosquito net is recommended. Some measures of vector control include:

- A yeast trap can be used for monitoring infestations of certain species of triatomine bugs ("Triatoma sordida", "Triatoma brasiliensis", "Triatoma pseudomaculata", and "Panstrongylus megistus").

- Promising results were gained with the treatment of vector habitats with the fungus "Beauveria bassiana".

- Targeting the symbionts of Triatominae through paratransgenesis can be done.

A number of potential vaccines are currently being tested. Vaccination with "Trypanosoma rangeli" has produced positive results in animal models. More recently, the potential of DNA vaccines for immunotherapy of acute and chronic Chagas disease is being tested by several research groups.

Blood transfusion was formerly the second-most common mode of transmission for Chagas disease, but the development and implementation of blood bank screening tests has dramatically reduced this risk in the 21st century. Blood donations in all endemic Latin American countries undergo Chagas screening, and testing is expanding in countries, such as France, Spain and the United States, that have significant or growing populations of immigrants from endemic areas. In Spain, donors are evaluated with a questionnaire to identify individuals at risk of Chagas exposure for screening tests.

The US FDA has approved two Chagas tests, including one approved in April 2010, and has published guidelines that recommend testing of all donated blood and tissue products. While these tests are not required in US, an estimated 75–90% of the blood supply is currently tested for Chagas, including all units collected by the American Red Cross, which accounts for 40% of the U.S. blood supply. The Chagas Biovigilance Network reports current incidents of Chagas-positive blood products in the United States, as reported by labs using the screening test approved by the FDA in 2007.

Coinfection is a major concern with neglected tropical diseases, making NTDs more damaging than their mortality rates might portray. Because the factors that support neglected tropical diseases (poverty, inadequate healthcare, inadequate sanitation practices etc.) support all NTDs, they are often found in overlapping distributions. Helminth infections, as the most common infection of humans, are often found to be in multi-infection systems. For example, in Brazil, low socioeconomic status contributes to overcrowded housing. In these same areas, connection by "Necator americanus" and "Schistosoma mansoni" is common. The effect of each worm weakens the immune system of those infected, making infection from the other easier and more severe. For this reason, coinfection carries a higher risk of mortality. NTDs may also play a role in infection with other diseases, such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis. The ability of helminths to manipulate the immune system may create a physiological environment that could exacerbate the progression of HIV/AIDS. Some evidence from Senegal, Malawi, and Thailand has shown that helminth infections raise the risk of malarial infection.

Some species of cattle such as the African buffalo, N'dama, and Keteku appear trypanotolerant and do not develop symptoms. Calves are more resistant than adults.

As of 2010 it caused around 9,000 deaths, down from 34,000 in 1990. As of 2000, the disability-adjusted life-years (9 to 10 years) lost due to sleeping sickness are 2.0 million. From 2010-2014, there was an estimated 55 million people at risk for "gambiense" African Trypanosomiasis and over 6 million people at risk for "rhodesiense" African Trypanosomiasis. In 2014, the World Health Organization reported 3,797 cases of Human African Trypanosomiasis when the predicted number of cases were to be 5,000. The number of total reported cases in 2014 is an 86% reduction to the total number of cases reported in 2000.

The disease has been recorded as occurring in 37 countries, all in sub-Saharan Africa. It occurs regularly in southeast Uganda and western Kenya, and killed more than 48,000 Africans in 2008. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most affected country in the world, accounting for 75% of the "Trypanosoma brucei gambiense" cases. The population at risk being about 69 million with one third of this number being at a 'very high' to 'moderate' risk and the remaining two thirds at a 'low' to 'very low' risk. The number of people being affected by the disease has declined. At this rate, sleeping sickness elimination is a possibility. The World Health Organization plans to eradicate sleeping sickness by the year 2020.

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.

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Trypanosomiasis could, in future be prevented by genetically altering the tsetse fly. As the tsetse fly is the main vector of transmission, making the fly immune to the disease by altering its genome could be the main component in an effort to eradicate the disease. New technologies such as CRISPR allowing cheaper and easier genetic engineering could allow for such measures.

Currently there are few medically related prevention options for African Trypanosomiasis (i.e. no vaccine exists for immunity). Although the risk of infection from a tsetse fly bite is minor (estimated at less than 0.1%), the use of insect repellants, wearing long-sleeved clothing, avoiding tsetse-dense areas, implementing bush clearance methods and wild game culling are the best options to avoid infection available for local residents of affected areas.

At the 25th ISCTRC (International Scientific Council for Trypanosomiasis Research and Control) in Mombasa, Kenya, in October 1999, the idea of an African-wide initiative to control tsetse and trypanosomiasis populations was discussed. During the 36th summit of the Organization for African Unity in Lome, Togo, in July 2000, a resolution was passed to form the Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC). The campaign works to eradicate the tsetse vector population levels and subsequently the protozoan disease, by use of insecticide-impregnated targets, fly traps, insecticide-treated cattle, ultra-low dose aerial/ground spraying (SAT) of tsetse resting sites and the sterile insect technique (SIT). The use of SIT in Zanzibar proved effective in eliminating the entire population of tsetse flies but was expensive and is relatively impractical to use in many of the endemic countries afflicted with African trypanosomiasis.

Regular active surveillance, involving detection and prompt treatment of new infections, and tsetse fly control is the backbone of the strategy used to control sleeping sickness. Systematic screening of at-risk communities is the best approach, because case-by-case screening is not practical in endemic regions. Systematic screening may be in the form of mobile clinics or fixed screening centres where teams travel daily to areas of high infection rates. Such screening efforts are important because early symptoms are not evident or serious enough to warrant patients with gambiense disease to seek medical attention, particularly in very remote areas. Also, diagnosis of the disease is difficult and health workers may not associate such general symptoms with trypanosomiasis. Systematic screening allows early-stage disease to be detected and treated before the disease progresses, and removes the potential human reservoir. A single case of sexual transmission of West African sleeping sickness has been reported.

Additional neglected tropical diseases include:

Some tropical diseases are very rare, but may occur in sudden epidemics, such as the Ebola hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever and the Marburg virus. There are hundreds of different tropical diseases which are less known or rarer, but that, nonetheless, have importance for public health.

More than 300 million people worldwide have asthma. The rate of asthma increases as countries become more urbanized and in many parts of the world those who develop asthma do not have access to medication and medical care. Within the United States, African Americans and Latinos are four times more likely to suffer from severe asthma than whites. The disease is closely tied to poverty and poor living conditions. Asthma is also prevalent in children in low income countries. Homes with roaches and mice, as well as mold and mildew put children at risk for developing asthma as well as exposure to cigarette smoke.

Unlike many other Western countries, the mortality rate for asthma has steadily risen in the United States over the last two decades. Mortality rates for African American children due to asthma are also far higher than that of other racial groups. For African Americans, the rate of visits to the emergency room is 330 percent higher than their white counterparts. The hospitalization rate is 220 percent higher and the death rate is 190 percent higher. Among Hispanics, Puerto Ricans are disporpotionatly affected by asthma with a disease rate that is 113 percent higher than non-Hispanic Whites and 50 percent higher than non-Hispanic Blacks. Studies have shown that asthma morbidity and mortality are concentrated in inner city neighborhoods characterized by poverty and large minority populations and this affects both genders at all ages. Asthma continues to have an adverse effects on the health of the poor and school attendance rates among poor children. 10.5 million days of school are missed each year due to asthma.

Animal trypanosomiasis, also known as nagana and nagana pest, or sleeping sickness, is a disease of vertebrates. The disease is caused by trypanosomes of several species in the genus "Trypanosoma" such as "Trypanosoma brucei". "Trypanosoma vivax" causes nagana mainly in West Africa, although it has spread to South America. The trypanosomes infect the blood of the vertebrate host, causing fever, weakness, and lethargy, which lead to weight loss and anemia; in some animals the disease is fatal unless treated. The trypanosomes are transmitted by tsetse flies.

An interesting feature is the remarkable tolerance to nagana pathology shown by some breeds of cattle, notably the N'Dama – a West African "Bos taurus" breed. This contrasts with the susceptibility shown by East African "Bos indicus" cattle such as the zebu.

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.

AIDS is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Primary modes of HIV transmission in sub-Saharan Africa are sexual intercourse, mother-to-child transmission (vertical transmission), and through HIV-infected blood. Since rate of HIV transmission via heterosexual intercourse is so low, it is insufficient to cause AIDS disparities between countries. Critics of AIDS policies promoting safe sexual behaviors believe that these policies miss the biological mechanisms and social risk factors that contribute to the high HIV rates in poorer countries. In these developing countries, especially those in sub-Saharan Africa, certain health factors predispose the population to HIV infections.

Many of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are ravaged with poverty and many people live on less than one United States dollar a day. The poverty in these countries gives rise to many other factors that explain the high prevalence of AIDS. The poorest people in most African countries suffer from malnutrition, lack of access to clean water, and have improper sanitation. Because of a lack of clean water many people are plagued by intestinal parasites that significantly increase their chances of contracting HIV due to compromised immune system. Malaria, a disease still rampant in Africa also increases the risk of contracting HIV. These parasitic diseases, affect the body’s immune response to HIV, making people more susceptible to contracting the disease once exposed. Genital schistosomiasis, also prevalent in the topical areas of Sub-Saharan Africa and many countries worldwide, produces genital lesions and attract CD4 cells to the genital region which promotes HIV infection. All these factors contribute to the high rate of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. Many of the factors seen in Africa are also present in Latin America and the Caribbean and contribute to the high rates of infections seen in those regions. In the United States, poverty is a contributing factor to HIV infections. There is also a large racial disparity, with African Americans having a significantly higher rate of infection than their white counterparts.

More than 90% of the global burden of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is contributed by six countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, South Sudan and Sudan. In India, more than 70% VL cases are reported from the state of Bihar. North Bihar, India (including Araria, Purnea, and Kishanganj) is the endemic zone of this disease.The disease is endemic in Iran including Ardabil, Fars, North Khorasan...

But, while the disease's geographical range is broad, it is not continuous. The disease clusters around areas of drought, famine, and high population density. In Africa, this has meant a knot of infection centers mostly in Sudan, Kenya, and Somalia. Living conditions here have changed very little in the past century, and the people are not normally very mobile. Parts of the Sudan, in particular the Upper Nile region, are almost totally cut off from the rest of the country, and most people tend to remain at their place of birth.

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.

A canine vector-borne disease (CVBD) is one of "a group of globally distributed and rapidly spreading illnesses that are caused by a range of pathogens transmitted by arthropods including ticks, fleas, mosquitoes and phlebotomine sandflies." CVBDs are important in the fields of veterinary medicine, animal welfare, and public health. Some CVBDs are of zoonotic concern.

Many CVBD infect humans as well as companion animals. Some CVBD are fatal; most can only be controlled, not cured. Therefore, infection should be avoided by preventing arthropod vectors from feeding on the blood of their preferred hosts. While it is well known that arthropods transmit bacteria and protozoa during blood feeds, viruses are also becoming recognized as another group of transmitted pathogens of both animals and humans.

Some "canine vector-borne pathogens of major zoonotic concern" are distributed worldwide, while others are localized by continent. Listed by vector, some such pathogens and their associated diseases are the following:

- Phlebotomine sandflies (Psychodidae): "Leishmania amazonensis", "L. colombiensis", and "L. infantum" cause visceral leishmaniasis (see also canine leishmaniasis). "L. braziliensis" causes mucocutaneous leishmaniasis. "L. tropica" causes cutaneous leishmaniasis. "L. peruviana" and "L. major" cause localized cutaneous leishmaniasis.

- Triatomine bugs (Reduviidae): "Trypanosoma cruzi" causes trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease).

- Ticks (Ixodidae): "Babesia canis" subspecies ("Babesia canis canis", "B. canis vogeli", "B. canis rossi", and "B. canis gibsoni" cause babesiosis. "Ehrlichia canis" and "E. chaffeensis" cause monocytic ehrlichiosis. "Anaplasma phagocytophilum" causes granulocytic anaplasmosis. "Borrelia burgdorferi" causes Lyme disease. "Rickettsia rickettsii" causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever. "Rickettsia conorii" causes Mediterranean spotted fever.

- Mosquitoes (Culicidae): "Dirofilaria immitis" and "D. repens" cause dirofilariasis.

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.

Winterbottom's sign is seen in the early phase of African trypanosomiasis, a disease caused by the parasites "Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense" and "Trypanosoma brucei gambiense" which is more commonly known as African sleeping sickness. Dr. Anthony Martinelli describes Winterbottom's sign as the swelling of lymph nodes (lymphadenopathy) along the back of the neck, in the posterior cervical chain of lymph nodes, as trypanosomes travel in the lymphatic fluid and cause inflammation.

It may be suggestive of cerebral infection.

Vietnamese tuberculosis refers to certain forms of chronic melioidosis that look clinically very similar to tuberculosis. It is derived from the clinical appearance of the disease in American soldiers returning from the Vietnam War.

The disease can be prevented in horses with the use of vaccinations. These vaccinations are usually given together with vaccinations for other diseases, most commonly WEE, VEE, and tetanus. Most vaccinations for EEE consist of the killed virus. For humans there is no vaccine for EEE so prevention involves reducing the risk of exposure. Using repellent, wearing protective clothing, and reducing the amount of standing water is the best means for prevention

Prognosis is generally poor. If a patient survives, recovery may be prompt and complete, or protracted with sequelae, such as orchitis, hepatitis, uveitis, parotitis, desquamation or alopecia. Importantly, MARV is known to be able to persist in some survivors and to either reactivate and cause a secondary bout of MVD or to be transmitted via sperm, causing secondary cases of infection and disease.

Of the 252 people who contracted Marburg during the 2004–2005 outbreak of a particularly virulent serotype in Angola, 227 died, for a case fatality rate of 90%.

Although all age groups are susceptible to infection, children are rarely infected. In the 1998–2000 Congo epidemic, only 8% of the cases were children less than 5 years old.

After inoculation by the vector, the virus travels via lymphatics to lymph nodes, and replicates in macrophages and neutrophils, resulting in lymphopenia, leukopenia and fever. Subsequent replication occurs in other organs leading to viremia. Symptoms in horses occur one to three weeks after infection, and begins with a fever that may reach as high as 106 °F (41 °C). The fever usually lasts for 24–48 hours.

Nervous signs appear during the fever that include sensitivity to sound, periods of excitement, and restlessness. Brain lesions appear, causing drowsiness, drooping ears, circling, aimless wandering, head pressing, inability to swallow, and abnormal gait. Paralysis follows, causing the horse to have difficulty raising its head. The horse usually suffers complete paralysis and death two to four days after symptoms appear. Mortality rates among horses with the eastern strain range from 70 to 90%.

MVD is caused by two viruses Marburg virus (MARV) and Ravn virus (RAVV)family Filoviridae

Marburgviruses are endemic in arid woodlands of equatorial Africa. Most marburgvirus infections were repeatedly associated with people visiting natural caves or working in mines. In 2009, the successful isolation of infectious MARV and RAVV was reported from healthy Egyptian rousettes ("Rousettus aegyptiacus") caught in caves. This isolation strongly suggests that Old World fruit bats are involved in the natural maintenance of marburgviruses and that visiting bat-infested caves is a risk factor for acquiring marburgvirus infections. Further studies are necessary to establish whether Egyptian rousettes are the actual hosts of MARV and RAVV or whether they get infected via contact with another animal and therefore serve only as intermediate hosts. Another risk factor is contact with nonhuman primates, although only one outbreak of MVD (in 1967) was due to contact with infected monkeys. Finally, a major risk factor for acquiring marburgvirus infection is occupational exposure, i.e. treating patients with MVD without proper personal protective equipment.

Contrary to Ebola virus disease (EVD), which has been associated with heavy rains after long periods of dry weather, triggering factors for spillover of marburgviruses into the human population have not yet been described.

American tick bite fever (also known as ""Rickettsia parkeri" infection") is a condition that may be characterized by a rash of maculopapules.