South America

South America is a large and heterogenous subcontinent that extends from 12o27’ north to 53o54’ south, islands excluded from consideration, and from 34o77 west to 81o19’ west, islands also excluded. Its landmass is 17 840 000 square kilometers (6 890 000 square miles), or almost 3.5% of the Earth’s surface, with a population of roughly 370 million. Intense urbanization occurred during the twentieth century and is still ongoing, and increasing migration has contributed to the present distribution of infectious disease in the subcontinent. Although there has been significant improvement in health conditions, several infectious diseases are still endemic and epidemic in South America. Their distribution is far from homogeneous and considerable differences in disease surveillance account for much of this distribution. In this setting, urbanization of tropical diseases, previously limited to rural areas, has been an emerging aspect in this region (e.g. seen in malaria, Chagas’ disease, and leishmaniasis, among others) [1].