Neglected and Orphan Tropical Diseases?!

Last week, in my lab meeting we laughed at the existence of a journal called 'PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases' which is the first open-access journal devoted to the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

So, I was curious, and I tried to find what diseases are charaterized this way. And why! I'm writing this post because I thought this could be a great topic of discussion.

There are 13 tropical diseases considered to be 'neglected', because not enough money is spent on researching and/or distributing cures (e.g., leprosy). I've read that the 13 all have some fundamental traits in common, not in terms of their biology, namely:

Ancient afflictions that have burdened humanity for centuries

Poverty-promoting conditions

Associated with stigma

Rural areas of low-income countries and fragile states

No commercial markets for products that target these diseases

Interventions, when applied, have a history of success

But, do you know what I also found interesting? The open-source 'Tropical Disease initiative' also refers to Orphan Diseases (illnesses on which phamaceutical companies tend to do little research)! They argue that there is an overlap between 'neglected' and 'orphan' diseases, but the latter group includes TB and malaria.

By the way, do you know that some people argue that malaria is not a tropical disease? World largest outbreaks of malaria in recent time occured in siberia and norway in the 19th Century!