Zarema Obradovic
University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Title: Tropical diseases-challenge for Bosnia and Herzegovina
Biography
Biography: Zarema Obradovic
Abstract
According to WHO tropical diseases encompass all diseases that occur solely, or principally, in the tropics. In practice, the term is often taken to refer to infectious diseases that thrive in hot, humid conditions, such as malaria, leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, Chagas disease, African trypanosomiasis and dengue. How to connect tropical diseases and Bosnia and Herzegovina? This is a small country in the heart of Europe, with a predominantly continental climate and only in the southern regions, along the Adriatic coast, the climate is Mediterranean, similar to the tropical. However, tropical diseases becoming more significant for several reasons: Increasing number of B&H travelers traveling to the tropics, increasing number of travelers arriving to B&H from the tropics countries, the globalization of all kinds of goods and climate change and habitat change for vectors (reservoirs and disease carriers). In the past, until 1970, there was indigenous malaria in B&H, then it was eradicated, but we have anopheles, disease transmitters and imported cases of malaria as reservoirs of the disease, which means we have a risk for occurrence new malaria cases. We have also some sporadically cases of leishmaniasis. The common fact is that tropical diseases are significant for B&H and therefore we need to do more to educate health professionals how to prevent, to recognize and treat patients with tropical diseases. It is also important to make the general population aware of these diseases and the measures to prevent them.