Critical Focus | Tomorrow's Infections Today

You might think of the sun-drenched Atlantic Boulevard in Banjul, Gambia, as a carefree haven of leisure. Not me. This vibrant West African locale evokes a far more meaningful association: the headquarters of the Medical Research Council (MRC) where, some four decades ago, I encountered the unforgettable human toll of diseases that we had relegated to the margins of Western awareness. There crouched a village elder, his cheeks etched with the cruel scars of smallpox; a youth robbed of sight by onchocerciasis, river blindness; a bright young mother, her vision extinguished by trachoma — these were not mere case studies but living testimony to the relentless scourge of tropical infections. I was introduced to patients grappling with bilharzia, and the grotesque distortions of elephantiasis.