Endemic treponematoses in Togo and other west African states

In 1970 an alarming increase in the number of cases of treponematoses in general and yaws in particular began to be apparent in sub-Saharan Africa, yet official reports usually underestimate the extent of these diseases. Thus, a clinical and serologic investigation of the prevalence of yaws was conducted in May 1981 in Togo. The proportion of examined persons found to have clinical yaws lesions varied from 1% to 3.9%; all of the four cantons with a prevalence of greater than or equal to 3% are located near Ghana, where the disease is endemic. Children one to 14 years old (and especially those five to 14) were most frequently affected by yaws. The results confirm that yaws is underreported and that it persists and is even resurgent in many areas of Togo and in other French-speaking countries in West Africa. Because of the prevalence of migration and nomadism, a regional (as opposed to national) effort to combat the treponematoses is essential.