Pinta

Pinta is a skin disease found in the rural regions of Central and South America — caused by a bacterium called Treponema carateum, related to the pathogen of syphilis but not sexually transmitted. It begins with flat, reddish patches on the skin. Later they turn bluish, grey-brown, sometimes violet. In the end, whole areas of skin lose their pigmentation — the skin becomes light, almost white, where it was dark before. The disease frequently affects children. It spreads where people live in poverty, in cramped spaces, on damp floors, often without access to clean water. Medically it responds well to penicillin — but the pigmentation changes often remain visible for a lifetime.