House passes Rep. Johnson's neglected infections of poverty bill

Researchers: Rep. Johnson giving ‘a voice to people who have none’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04) today announced his bipartisan bill to address a growing problem of parasitic diseases – mostly in poor, minority populations along the U.S.-Mexico border, the rural South, Appalachia and distressed urban areas – passed the House of Representatives.

The legislation now goes to the Senate.

The “Neglected Infections of Impoverished Americans Act of 2010” – H.R. 5986 – would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to report to Congress annually on the impact of these diseases, address their threat and make funding recommendations on how to eradicate them.

Some of the parasitic infections are spread by insects – such as Chagas disease or dengue fever. Others, such as toxocara and toxoplasmosis, are attained through contaminated animal feces, and still others thrive in soil, such as thread worms.

All of these neglected infections affect hundreds of thousands of mostly poor, minority residents with no health insurance. Infected people suffer from heart disease, lung ailments, birth defects, seizures, difficult pregnancies and child developmental problems as a result of these diseases.

“The first step is to raise awareness of these diseases,” said Johnson. “Today is an important step in recognizing the threat and moving toward a solution.”

In a paper published in 2008, Dr. Peter Hotez, a distinguished research professor at George Washington University, called the group of infections “a largely hidden burden of diseases” and reported on surprisingly high rates of parasitic infections among the poor, particularly among minority populations, in the U.S.

University of Georgia microbiologist Daniel Colley – director of the Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases – said, “Those afflicted with these diseases are impoverished, and have no voice or power. [This] is a strong first step in giving a voice to those so afflicted, and this will ultimately result in addressing these problems in our country.”

Dr. Hotez agreed. “Rep. Johnson is giving a voice to people who have none.”

Neglected Diseases Fact Sheet | Read about this legislation in Miller-McCune Magazine

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