Pathogens & People: The poverty of infectious diseases

In much of the world, poverty often leads to disease because of inadequate health care, malnutrition, poor education, and environmental exposures to insect vectors and contaminated food and water. The inverse is also true in that disease may lead to poverty (or greater poverty) because of the need to spend precious money on medicines, and disease-related anemia, malnutrition or other symptoms that may prevent full mobility and productivity. While these conditions are common to the developing world, the U.S. has its share of poverty-related diseases.