•  Malaria:  Four strains are carried by mosquitoes, can be prevented by reducing mosquito populations
   and sleeping with mosquito nets, can be treated if appropriate medicine is available

Other common illnesses are AIDS, whooping cough,
cerebral meningitis and measles.

Exotic diseases inlude:

  •  Guinea Worm Disease:  Contracted from drinking water contaminated with fleas carrying infected larvae which mature into worms 3 to 5 feet in length emerging through skin creating a painful blister and requiring up to two months to be
completely removed, 84% of Guinea Worm Disease cases are found in Sudan

•  River Blindness:  Spread by bite of blackflies infected with parasitic worm, causes
   skin lesions and lesions in eyes leading to blindness if untreated

•  Trachoma:  World's leading cause of preventable blindness, affects mostly women
   and children, bacteria causes inflammation of eyelid, scarring contracts eyelid
   turning eyelashes inward irritating and damaging the cornea and eventually causing
   blindness, eliminates ability to attend school or work resulting in loss of productivity
   and impacting family welfare

•  Ebola Hemorraghic Fever:  Caused by virus, very deadly, no cure

•  Sleeping Sickness:  Contracted by bite of tse tse fly, death inevitable if not treated

•  Nodding Syndrome:  Mysterious illness causing retardation and often death

                 In the time it took you to read everything on this page, a child in Africa died of malaria.