Yaws is a disease that attacks chiefly children of humid tropical regions. Various kinds of lesions (skin eruptions) appear and disappear during the course of the disease, which may last several years. Yaws attacks the skin, cartilage, and bones, but it causes death in only rare cases.
Bacteria called spirochetes cause yaws. The spirochetes resemble those that cause syphilis, but yaws is not a sexually transmitted disease. The spirochetes enter the body through a break in the skin. In most cases, a person catches yaws from contact with an infected person. Three to four weeks after infection, a small, yellow-red, pimplelike lesion forms where the spirochetes entered the body. Other lesions, some resembling raspberries, break out weeks or months later. Painful sores often form on the soles of the feet and make walking difficult. Still later, lesions may develop. The disease may gradually destroy the cartilage of the nose and permanently damage bones and joints. It can be cured by treatment with antibiotics.
