Experimental evidence and clinical studies as basis for nomenclature in frambesia tropica (yaws).

Abstract

SUCCINCT clarity in nosological nomenclature and standardization of definitions are imperative in all phases of vital statistics and clinical description. Without them, no intelligent comparison of morphological phenomena and epidemiological data is judiciously possible. The mass campaigns against yaws initiated by the United Nations World Health Organization on an international basis in Haiti, Indonesia, Malaya, the Philippine Islands, and Thailand again call for accurate terminology consistent with ascertained experimental facts and descriptive dermatology. This approach seems to be the only rationale for both sensible and practical nomenclature on which each observer can agree, although he may not see the additional problems in exactly the same way as other experts. The importance of succinct nomenclature as a basis for cooperative international scientific assessments and the magnitude of these yaws control projects are evident from the following figures: In Indonesia alone about 1,500,000 persons in an estimated total population of nearly