Nonhuman primates across sub-Saharan Africa are infected with the yaws bacterium Treponema pallidum subsp. pertenue

The bacterium Treponema pallidum (TP) causes human syphilis (subsp. pallidum; TPA), bejel (subsp. endemicum; TEN), and yaws (subsp. pertenue; TPE). Although syphilis has reached a worldwide distribution, bejel and yaws have remained endemic diseases. Bejel affects individuals in dry areas of Sahelian Africa and Saudi Arabia, whereas yaws affects those living in the humid tropics. Yaws is currently reported as endemic in 14 countries, and an...