List of Exotic Diseases

Exotic diseases are usually contracted by people traveling to Third World nations. Other times people purchase rare animals that may have come from a foreign country and may be infected with an unusual parasite or virus. Some exotic diseases are relatively harmless while others may prove fatal. Health organizations around the world constantly strive to control and prevent these exotic diseases from spreading and becoming worldwide epidemics.

Sleeping Sickness

• Sleeping sickness is transmitted to humans through the bite of the tiny tsetse fly.

  Transmitted to humans through the bite of the tiny tsetse fly, this fatal parasitic disease was nearly eliminated in the 1960s. However, due to war, population shifts and lack of healthcare systems, the disease returned to Africa, once again at epidemic levels. The first stage of sleeping sickness shows up as fever and weakness. If treated with proper medication at this initial stage, people sometimes survive; however, rarely do people in rural African nations have access to the necessary treatment. Stage two of sleeping sickness presents when the parasite invades the host's central nervous system. At this point, confusion, convulsions and violent behavior often appear. People at this stage additionally experience excessive sleeping, soon followed by coma and death. Major efforts are underway to get insect repellent and medication to remote areas to fight this horrific disease.

Monkeypox

• Monkeypox rarely affects humans.

  First discovered in lab monkeys in 1958, monkeypox rarely affects humans. Similar in symptoms to smallpox, monkeypox exists primarily in parts of Africa. However, in 2003 several people in the United States fell ill with the disease after coming into contact with contaminated pet prairie dogs. Generally spread through the bite of an animal, the virus also shows up in rats, mice and squirrels. Additionally, human fluid exchange occasionally carries the virus from person to person. Infected people develop a fever and body aches, feel extremely tired and eventually break out in a body rash which grows more severe and blisters during a two to four week period. Death from monkeypox occurs relatively rarely, and the smallpox vaccine helps protect humans from monkeypox.

Guinea Worm Disease

• Safe drinking water is the answer to avoiding the Guinea worm disease.

  A parasitic worm infection found mainly in Africa, Guinea worm disease is a rare occurrence today largely due to the efforts of worldwide health organizations. Safe drinking water holds the key to avoiding this disease. Humans become infected by drinking water which contains a tiny flea already infected with the miniscule larvae of the Guinea worm. Once inside the human body, the worm larvae mature, growing to as long as three feet. Upon maturation, the worms pierce the abdominal wall and mate. The adult worms cause swollen, painful blisters to form on the human carrier's skin. Unfortunately, infected people often step into bodies of water to relieve the pain of these blisters, thus releasing millions of new larvae into the water and causing the cycle of the disease to repeat over and over again. No medications exist to fight this infection; educating developing nations about safe drinking water seems to be the key to fighting the disease.