Yaws

Yaws is a long-lasting and potentially disfiguring skin disease you get from a bacterial infection. A specific type (subspecies pertenue) of the bacteria Treponema pallidum (T. pallidum) causes it. It causes skin growths that start out in one area and then spread to other parts of your body. If left untreated, it can come back months or years later. It can cause permanent damage to your skin, bones and tissues.

Yaws is part of a group of bacterial infections called endemic treponematoses. Other names for it include “pian,” “framboesia” and “bouba.”

Stages of yaws

There are four potential stages of yaws:

• Primary yaws. This is when your first symptoms appear. A growth on your skin starts small, then grows larger and crusts over. This can last three to six months.
• Secondary yaws. Secondary yaws appears a few months after your first symptoms. It causes multiple growths on your skin that can progress to bone infections.
• Latent yaws. In latent yaws, you test positive for T. pallidum but don’t have any symptoms. This could last for years. It’s possible you could still be contagious during this period.
• Tertiary (late) yaws. Without treatment, about 10% of people get tertiary yaws (or “late yaws”) five to 10 years after their first symptoms. Late yaws causes widespread, destructive growths.

What’s the difference between syphilis and yaws?

Yaws is caused by similar bacteria to those that cause syphilis, but it’s not a sexually transmitted infection. It spreads through contact with broken skin.