Non-venereal treponematoses: yaws

This disfiguring tropical disease is caused by the spirochete, Treponema pertenue. This species is morphologically indistinguishable from the agent of venereal syphilis, Treponema pallidum. Yaws is predominately a disease of children ages 2-15 years living in rural, humid and tropical areas of Africa, South and Central America, the Caribbean, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Living ["]