Preventive Chemotherapy Versus Innovative and Intensified Disease Management in Neglected Tropical Diseases: A Distinction Whose Shelf Life Has Expired.

Mark Rosenberg,David G Addiss,Jürg Utzinger,Kenji Hirayama

doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0004521

Abstract

Preventive Chemotherapy Versus Innovative and Intensified Disease Management in Neglected Tropical Diseases: A Distinction Whose Shelf Life Has Expired.

Highlights

For a number of years, we have used a distinction between those NTDs whose treatment and prevention involve mass drug administration (MDA) and those which involve individual case finding and case management
The most prominent examples of NTDs that have been allocated to the preventive chemotherapy and transmission control” (PCT) group are lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, and soiltransmitted helminthiasis; the main tool for their control is the periodic administration of efficacious, safe, and inexpensive drugs to entire at-risk populations without prior individual diagnosis [1,2,5,6]
This means that a disease formerly classified as an intensified disease management” (IDM) NTD might be reclassified as a PCT NTD

Summary

Introduction

For a number of years, we have used a distinction between those NTDs whose treatment and prevention involve mass drug administration (MDA) and those which involve individual case finding and case management. We have labeled the former the “preventive chemotherapy and transmission control” (PCT) NTDs and the latter the “innovative and intensified disease management” (IDM) NTDs. The Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO), for example, uses this distinction and has classified some diseases as “IDM” and others as “PCT” (see: http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases).

Results

Conclusion