Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Hundreds of thousands of low-income residents of inner cities of the United States, the Mississippi Delta, Appalachia, and areas near the Mexican border and Native American reservations remain undiagnosed and untreated for diseases that are prevalent in Africa, Asia and Latin America, according to an analysis published on June 25 in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. The analysis, "Neglected Infections of Poverty in the United States," prepared by Peter J. Hotez of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine of the George Washington University and Sabin Vaccine Institute, Washington, D.C., found that residents of these areas suffer from many neglected infections such as syphilis, cytomegalovirus, ascariasis, strongyloidiasis, dengue and Chagas disease. The prevalence of these diseases varies from region to region and what is common to all these regions is wrenching poverty, the study reveals. The author's specific policy recommendations include a program of active surveillance (including neonatal screening), as well as epidemiological studies and mass or targeted treatments and vector control. The author also recommends research and development for new control tools including improved diagnostics and accelerated development of a vaccine to prevent congenital CMV infection and congenital toxoplasmosis.