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Skin Disease in Tropics: Impacted by Heat, Humidity, and Healthcare Neglect

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Critical Thinking in Contemporary Dermatology: Cognitive Essays

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Abstract

The tropics are a warm equatorial zone that are rich in flora, fauna, diversity and resources and yet entrenched in poverty. Tropical skin diseases include those caused directly by the hot and humid environment such as miliaria and sweat dermatitis; and a predominance of preventable and controllable infections due to healthcare neglect, focus on Western models and lack of political initiative. These include common episodic infections such as periporitis, pyoderma, scabies, dermatophytosis; as well as infections peculiar to the tropics including cutaneous tuberculosis and the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) that include cutaneous leishmaniasis, leprosy, filariasis, mycetoma and other subcutaneous mycoses. Tropical medicine offers the most heart-warming results when simple health measures are implemented, warranting global focus to transform these regions into flourishing, self-sufficient territories.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology and Venereology, AIIMS, New Delhi, India

    Ananya Sharma & Somesh Gupta

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  1. Ananya Sharma
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  2. Somesh Gupta
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Correspondence to Somesh Gupta .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology and Venereology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

    Somesh Gupta

  2. Department of Dermatology and Venereology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

    Nikhil Mehta

  3. All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

    Pankhuri Dudani

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Sharma, A., Gupta, S. (2024). Skin Disease in Tropics: Impacted by Heat, Humidity, and Healthcare Neglect. In: Gupta, S., Mehta, N., Dudani, P. (eds) Critical Thinking in Contemporary Dermatology: Cognitive Essays. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-0411-8_16

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