Tropical Medicine in the Horse Latitudes

Some of the world’s highest rates of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) now occur among impoverished populations who live in the midst of wealth, especially in middle- and high-income countries. An illustrative example is the poor who live in nations between the 30th and 35th parallels, also known as the “horse latitudes.” Focusing on the northern horse latitudes, emerging information reveals that the neglected tropical diseases are widespread in the Middle East and North Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan, North India, Nepal, China, and in Texas and the southern United States, particularly vector-borne tropical infections such as dengue fever and other arbovirus infections, leishmaniasis, as well as selected helminthiases. In Texas a new tropical medicine school has been established to combat such neglected tropical diseases, but worldwide there is an urgent need to generate a public policy for these conditions, as they emerge primarily among the poor and disenfranchised.