Mycetoma enjoys all the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) characteristics. It eats the flesh at the infected area and spreads to attack the bone leading to serious harmful impacts on patients, families, communities and the health system in endemic regions.
It frequently affects the poorest of the poor in poor communities in remote regions. The affected population are of low socioeconomic status, low visibility and low political and social voice, and hence they are neglected.
The disease is considered a social stigma in particularly among females and children thus, they tend to hide it for prolong period, and when they are compelled to seek medical care, the condition is then at a late stage.
Mycetoma patients are of low socioeconomic status, low health education level that hinder them from seeking medical and health care. In the remote mycetoma endemic areas, the health and medical facilities are meagre. It is difficult for the patients to reach the regional health centres, hence the late presentation of patients with advanced disease and disabilities.
The treatment options are limited, and patients remain with the disease for years. It is hardly curable, and the ultimate solution is amputating or aggressive surgical excisions of the infected parts, resulting in long life disabilities, deformities and stigma.