Yaws

Alternative names:

bouba; frambesia; parangi; patek; pian; tropica

Definition:

An infectious disease that is similar to syphilis but is not sexually transmitted.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Yaws is very similar to syphilis, but it is NOT sexually transmitted. It is caused by the spiral-shaped bacterium (spirochete) called Treponema pertenue that is closely related to the organism that causes syphilis (Treponema pallidum).

Yaws is found in humid regions near the equator (tropical and subtropical regions). It almost always occurs in poor children.

Approximately 3 to 4 weeks after infection with the spirochete, the child develops a sore ("mother yaw") where the organism entered the skin. The sore appears as a highly infectious, very itchy, "raspberry-like" growth or group of papules at the site of infection. Scratching spreads the infection and more growths begin to appear elsewhere on the body.

Like syphilis, this disease has a latent period when it is inactive, followed (about the time of puberty) by external and internal lesions which destroy skin, bone and other tissues.

Yaws is spread by any type of direct contact with the lesion.

There is some evidence that infection with yaws MAY be protective against syphilis, this has not been conclusively proven.