Stroke in the tropics.

Similar to northern developed countries, cerebrovascular disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in tropical countries. The epidemiology of stroke in the tropics is different from one tropical region to another and from the tropics to northern latitudes. In tropical regions, stroke is due to the conventional mechanisms encountered in other latitudes, as well as unusual causative mechanisms unique to the tropics. In tropical regions, infectious causes of stroke and nonatherosclerotic mechanisms are more common than in nontropical areas. Our current knowledge of stroke in the tropics is limited by the financial restrictions existing in such regions limiting health care delivery and epidemiological research.