Prometheus 6

Some of the diseases have been brought from overseas, the report says, but most have long existed in this country. The diseases are largely concentrated in poverty-stricken regions, including Appalachia, inner cities, the Mississippi Delta and the border with Mexico.

Exotic illnesses afflict American poor
A study calls them the 'neglected infections of poverty.'
By Wendy Hansen
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 25, 2008

Despite plummeting mortality rates for most infectious diseases over the last century, a group of largely overlooked bacterial, viral and parasitic infections is still plaguing the nation's poor, according to a report released this week.

Many of the diseases are typically associated with tropical developing countries but are surprisingly common in poor regions of the United States, according to the analysis, published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.