Disease Indication Overviews
Learn how infectious diseases are discovered, diagnosed and treated with our indication fact sheets, and read about our partnerships with companies developing and deploying vaccines, treatments and preventive devices worldwide in our overview sheets.
CHAGAS Disease
Chikungunya
CHIKV outbreaks have occurred in countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It was found for the first time in the Americas on islands in the Caribbean in 2013 and has spread throughout most of the Americas. It has since been identified in over 60 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. No commercially available vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat CHIKV infection is currently available.
Coronaviruses
Cryptosporidiosis
dengue fever
Dengue fever, a mosquito-borne tropical disease, is the most common and important arthropod-borne (arboviral) illness in humans. It is caused by four serotypes of the dengue virus, of which more than one can circulate during an epidemic. Infection with one serotype confers lifelong homotypic immunity to that serotype and a brief period (~2 years) of partial heterotypic immunity to other serotypes. However, an individual can eventually be infected by all four serotypes.
Ebola
Lassa Fever
Lassa fever is a type of hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus and is mainly transmitted by rodents. The virus was first detected in 1969 in the town of Lassa, in Borno State, Nigeria; hence, its name. Lassa is endemic to West Africa, specifically Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. A significant number of individuals infected by the Lassa virus (~80%) do not appear to develop symptoms. The case fatality rate (CFR) has been reported to be upwards of 70%
Malaria
Schistosomiasis
Also known as snail fever, schistosomiasis is caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes. It is spread through contact with contaminated fresh water. Most human cases are caused by specific species of flatworms. In tropical countries, it is second only to malaria among parasitic diseases with the greatest economic impact. Schistosomiasis affects almost 200 million individuals per year, with most cases occurring in Africa, Asia and South America.
Sickle cell disease
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited disorder of the red blood cells (RBCs). Sickle cell anemia is the most common type of SCD. RBCs carry oxygen throughout the body via hemoglobin. With SCD, defective hemoglobin replaces normal hemoglobin. Over time, this causes many RBCs to become rigid and sickle-shaped and die earlier than normal RBCs, leading to a constant shortage.