Contents

#### **Preface XI**

#### **Section 1 Neglected Tropical Diseases 1**


Geraldo Bezerra da Silva Junior, Ana Amélia Reis Jereissati, Ane Karoline Medina Neri, Danielli Oliveira da Costa Lino, Juliana Gomes Ramalho de Oliveira and Elizabeth De Francesco Daher


Chapter 6 **RNA Association, RNA Interference, and microRNA Pathways in Dengue Fever Virus-Host Interaction 93** Imran Shahid

Preface

chikungunya and Zika [17].

arenaviruses.

veloping countries in Africa, Asia, and America.

Tropical emerging diseases pose a significant risk for the circulation of old and new patho‐ gens in areas previously unknown, which implies the possibility of new morbidities and mortalities and new consequences for naïve populations. Globalization, migration and trav‐ el [1–5], as well climate change and variability [6–10], are key factors for tropical diseases, and represent the need for integration of tropical medicine, travel medicine and epidemiolo‐ gy in the understanding of such complex situations. Among these, neglected tropical diseas‐ es (NTDs) are relevant especially in the more vulnerable populations [11–13]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), NTDs constitute a diverse group of communicable diseases that prevail in tropical and subtropical conditions in 149 countries. These affect more than one billion people and cost developing economies billions of dollars every year; a significant burden in multiple terms. Populations living in poverty [14,15], without ade‐ quate sanitation and in close contact with infectious vectors and domestic animals and live‐ stock, are those worst affected. Leprosy and Chagas are examples of diseases in which new

Recently, viruses transmitted by vectors (arboviruses) affecting not only people living in the tropics but also travelers and migrating populations, such as dengue, chikungunya, Zika, Mayaro, and encephalitis, among others, have been causing epidemics, and emerging and reemerging in multiple regions of the world, as occurred in the Americas (2013–2017) with

However, in the tropics, old conditions, such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Ebola virus [18–20], and arenaviruses, continue to cause morbidity and mortality among de‐

Keeping these issues in mind, this book includes different topics regarding research and clini‐ cal topics related to those relevant tropical emerging infectious diseases, including their im‐ plications for public health and travel medicine. This book has been organized into three major sections: I. Neglected Tropical Diseases; II. Arboviral Diseases; and III. Other Viral Dis‐ eases in the Tropics. Section I includes topics related to leprosy, Chagas disease and other NTDs with impact on kidney function. Section II includes experiences on arboviral diseases in Asia and Europe, such as dengue. Section III discusses HIV and Ebola in Africa, as well as

The commissioning of this book by InTechOpen editorial has been related in part to my long commitment to vector-borne, zoonotic and tropical diseases, being involved as Co-Chair of the Working Group on Zoonoses of the International Society for Chemotherapy (WGZ-ISC), as well in Colombia at the Committee on Tropical Medicine, Zoonoses and Travel Medicine of the Colombian Association of Infectious Diseases (Asociación Colombiana de Infectología,

advances and evidence are relevant for NTDs deserving further studies [16].

