code:

TABLE 3. Diseases considered as candidates for global eradication by the International
Task Force for Disease Eradication
=======================================================================================================
                      Current annual toll
Disease                    worldwide         Chief obstacles to eradication    Conclusion
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Diseases targeted for eradication

Dracunculiasis        <2 million persons     Lack of public and political      Eradicable
(Guinea worm          infected; few deaths   awareness; inadequate
disease)                                     funding

Poliomyelitis         100,000 cases of       No insurmountable technical       Eradicable
                      paralytic disease;     obstacles; increased
                      10,000 deaths          national/international
                                             commitment needed

Lymphatic             80 million cases       Need better tools for             Potentially eradicable
filariasis                                   monitoring infection

Mumps                 Unknown                Lack of data on impact in         Potentially eradicable
                                             developing countries;
                                             difficult diagnosis

Rubella               Unknown                Lack of data on impact in         Potentially eradicable
                                             developing countries;
                                             difficult diagnosis

Taeniasis/            50 million cases;      Need simpler diagnostics for      Potentially eradicable
cysticercosis         50,000 deaths          humans and pigs
(pork tapeworm)

Diseases/conditions of which some aspect could be eliminated

Hepatitis B           250,000 deaths         Carrier state, infections in      Not now eradicable,
                                             utero not preventable; need       but could eliminate
                                             routine infant vaccination        transmission over
                                                                               several decades

Iodine deficiency     Unknown                Inadequate surveillance, lack     Could eliminate
disorders                                    of environmental sources of       iodine deficiency
                                             iodine                            disorders

Neonatal tetanus      560,000 deaths         Inexhaustible environmental       Not now eradicable,
                                             reservoir                         but could prevent
                                                                               transmission

Onchocerciasis        18 million cases;      High cost of vector control;      Could eliminate
(river blindness)     340,000 blind          no therapy to kill adult          associated blindness
                                             worms; restrictions in mass
                                             use of ivermectin

Rabies                52,000 deaths          No effective way to deliver       Could eliminate urban
                                             vaccine to wild animals that      rabies
                                             carry the disease

Trachoma              500 million cases;     Linked to poverty; ubiquitous     Could eliminate
                      6-8 million blind      microbe                           blindness

Yaws and other        2.5 million cases      Political and financial inertia   Could interrupt
endemic                                                                        transmission *
treponematoses

Diseases that are not eradicable now

Ascariasis            1 billion infected;    Eggs viable in soil for years;    Not now eradicable
(roundworm)           20,000 deaths          laborious diagnosis;
                                             widespread

Cholera               Unknown                Environmental reservoirs;         Not now eradicable
                                             strain differences

Diphtheria            Unknown                Difficult diagnosis;              Not now eradicable
                                             multiple-dose vaccine

Hookworm              900 million            Laborious diagnosis; adult        Not now eradicable
disease               infected; 60,000       worms may live 5 years;
                      deaths                 widespread

Leprosy               11-12 million cases    Need for improved                 Not now eradicable
(Hansen's                                    diagnostic tests and
disease)                                     chemotherapy; social stigma;
                                             potential reservoir in
                                             armadillos

Measles               Almost 1 million       Lack of suitably effective        Not now eradicable
                      deaths, mostly         vaccine for young infants;
                      among children         cost; public misconception of
                                             seriousness

Pertussis             40 million cases;      High infectiousness; early        Not now eradicable
(whooping             400,000 deaths         infections; multiple-dose
cough)                                       vaccine

Rotaviral enteritis   80 million cases;      Inadequate vaccine                Not now eradicable
                      870,000 deaths

Schistosomiasis       200 million infected   Reservoir hosts; increased        Not now eradicable
(bilharziasis)                               snail-breeding sites

Tuberculosis          8-10 million new       Need for improved                 Not now eradicable
                      cases; 2-3 million     diagnostic tests,
                      deaths                 chemotherapy and vaccine;
                                             wider application of current
                                             therapy

Yellow fever          >10,000 deaths         Sylvatic reservoir; heat-labile   Not now eradicable
                                             vaccine

Diseases that are not eradicable

Amebiasis             500 million cases;     Asymptomatic infections;          Not eradicable
                      40,000-110,000         difficult diagnosis, treatment
                      deaths

Bartonellosis         Unknown                Asymptomatic infections;          Not eradicable
                                             difficult diagnosis, treatment

Clonorchiasis         20 million cases in    Animal reservoir;                 Not eradicable
                      China alone            asymptomatic infections;
                                             carrier state

Enterobiasis          Unknown                Widespread; mild disease          Not eradicable

American              15-20 million          Difficult diagnosis,              Not eradicable
trypanosomiasis       infected               treatment; animal reservoirs
(Chagas' disease)

Varicella zoster      3 million cases in     Latency of virus; inadequate      Not eradicable
                      USA alone              vaccine
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Because persons may be infected for decades and the organisms cannot be distinguished
  from those that cause venereal syphilis, elimination of transmission -- not eradication -- is the
  goal.
=======================================================================================================