{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,14]],"date-time":"2026-03-14T19:20:50Z","timestamp":1773516050465,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,1]],"date-time":"2022-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1654041600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Department of Health, Republic of the Philippines"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosntds.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Negl Trop Dis"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Yaws is a chronic, highly contagious skin and bone infection affecting children living in impoverished, remote communities. It is caused by <jats:italic>Treponema pallidum<\/jats:italic> subsp. <jats:italic>pertenue<\/jats:italic>. We report the prevalence of active yaws among elementary schoolchildren based on clinical and serological criteria in selected municipalities of Southern Philippines.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>From January to March 2017, exploratory cross-sectional surveys and screening of skin diseases were conducted in the Liguasan Marsh area of the provinces Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, and Cotabato. We included 9 municipalities and randomly selected one public elementary school per municipality. Members of students\u2019 households and the communities were also examined and treated. Yaws suspects and contacts had blood tests for treponemal and non-treponemal antibodies using Dual Pathway Platform and <jats:italic>Treponema pallidum<\/jats:italic> particle agglutination (TPPA) tests.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A total of 2779 children and adults were screened for any skin disease: 2291 students, 393 household members, and 95 community members. Among 210 yaws suspects and contacts, 150 consented to serologic tests. The estimated prevalence of active yaws among schoolchildren screened was 1 out of 2291 (0.04%). Among 2532 children who were 14 years old and younger, 4 (0.2%) had active yaws. Eight adult household contacts and community members had latent yaws and 2 had past yaws. Five out of 9 municipalities were endemic for yaws.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>This study confirmed that the Philippines is endemic for yaws but at a low level in the schools surveyed. This is an under-estimation due to the limited sampling. The lack of proper disease surveillance after the eradication campaign in the 1960\u2019s has made yaws a forgotten disease and has led to its resurgence. Yaws surveillance is needed to determine the extent of yaws in the Philippines and to help develop a strategy to eradicate yaws by 2030.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0010447","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,1]],"date-time":"2022-06-01T17:39:48Z","timestamp":1654105188000},"page":"e0010447","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Yaws in the Philippines: A clinico-seroprevalence study of selected communities in Mindanao"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5494-9455","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Belen Lardizabal","family":"Dofitas","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sherjan P.","family":"Kalim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Camille B.","family":"Toledo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0564-6313","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Jan Hendrik","family":"Richardus","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref001","unstructured":"WHO. Yaws Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022 [updated 10 January 2022; cited 2022 January 17, 2022]. Yaws Fact Sheet]. Available from: https:\/\/www.who.int\/news-room\/fact-sheets\/detail\/yaws."},{"issue":"6","key":"pntd.0010447.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e324","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(15)00011-X","article-title":"Global epidemiology of yaws: a systematic review","volume":"3","author":"O Mitj\u00e0","year":"2015","journal-title":"The Lancet Global Health"},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"642832","DOI":"10.1155\/2011\/642832","article-title":"Yaws in the Western pacific region: a review of the literature.","volume":"2011","author":"C Capuano","year":"2011","journal-title":"Journal of tropical medicine"},{"issue":"1\u20133","key":"pntd.0010447.ref004","first-page":"345","article-title":"Integration of yaws control into the permanent health structure of the Philippines","volume":"8","author":"AH Cruz","year":"1953","journal-title":"Bull World Health Organ"},{"issue":"9","key":"pntd.0010447.ref005","first-page":"675","article-title":"The Yaws Control Programme in the Phiippines with WHO\/UNICEF Assistance","volume":"17","author":"A Cruz","year":"1961","journal-title":"Journal of the Philippine Medical Association"},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref006","unstructured":"Philippine Health Statistics 1961. In: Health Bo, editor. Philippines1961. p. 101\u20133."},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref007","unstructured":"Philippine Health Statistics 1973. In: Health Bo, editor. Philippines1973. p. 114\u20137."},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref008","author":"WHO","year":"2018"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0010447.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1186\/s40249-019-0617-6","article-title":"Yaws in the Philippines: first reported cases since the 1970s","volume":"9","author":"BL Dofitas","year":"2020","journal-title":"Infectious Diseases of Poverty."},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref010","unstructured":"Mindanao: PhilAtlas; 2021 [cited 2021 22 July 2021]. Available from: https:\/\/www.philatlas.com\/mindanao.html."},{"issue":"6","key":"pntd.0010447.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"818","DOI":"10.1093\/cid\/cix892","article-title":"Diagnostics for Yaws Eradication: Insights From Direct Next-Generation Sequencing of Cutaneous Strains of Treponema pallidum","volume":"66","author":"M Marks","year":"2018","journal-title":"Clin Infect Dis"},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref012","author":"WHO","year":"2012"},{"issue":"1","key":"pntd.0010447.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"16","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-4362.1994.tb01485.x","article-title":"Yaws control\/eradication","volume":"33","author":"V Sehgal","year":"1994","journal-title":"International Journal of Dermatology"},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref014","author":"World Health Organization","year":"1984"},{"issue":"12","key":"pntd.0010447.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e1268","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(17)30388-1","article-title":"Effectiveness of single-dose azithromycin to treat latent yaws: a longitudinal comparative cohort study","volume":"5","author":"O Mitja","year":"2017","journal-title":"Lancet Glob Health"},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref016","author":"L. Chater RaN","year":"2016"},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref017","volume-title":"Yaws: Recognition Booklets for Communities","author":"World Health Organization","year":"2014"},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref018","author":"WHO","year":"2018"},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref019","year":"2018"},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref020","unstructured":"OpenStreetMap, cartographer 2022."},{"issue":"3","key":"pntd.0010447.ref021","first-page":"219","article-title":"A critical evaluation of yaws in the Philippines","volume":"41","author":"AH Cruz","year":"1965","journal-title":"J Philipp Med Assoc"},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref022","author":"WHO","year":"2018"},{"issue":"5","key":"pntd.0010447.ref023","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e0005557","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0005557","article-title":"Yaws resurgence in Bankim, Cameroon: The relative effectiveness of different means of detection in rural communities","volume":"11","author":"AP Boock AU","year":"2017","journal-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis"},{"key":"pntd.0010447.ref024","unstructured":"Region 12 Department of Health- Field Health Services Information System (FIHES) Annual Report 2017 Philippines: Region 12 Department of Health; 2017."},{"issue":"6","key":"pntd.0010447.ref025","first-page":"869","article-title":"Some important aspects of yaws eradication","volume":"15","author":"CJ Hackett","year":"1956","journal-title":"Bulletin of the World Health Organization"},{"issue":"3","key":"pntd.0010447.ref026","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104","DOI":"10.51866\/cr1275","article-title":"Yaws: The forgotten tropical skin disease","volume":"16","author":"N Md Alwi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Malays Fam Physician"}],"container-title":["PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.0010447","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,1]],"date-time":"2022-06-01T17:40:11Z","timestamp":1654105211000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.0010447"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Michael","family":"Marks","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"editor","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,1]]},"references-count":26,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,1]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.0010447","relation":{},"ISSN":["1935-2735"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1935-2735","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,1]]}}}