Infectious Diseases On The Rise

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Main Category: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 30 Oct 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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A new report from a non-profit health group in the US suggests that emerging infectious diseases are on the rise and the nation's defences are not ready for them.

Trust for America's Health (TFAH) released their report titled "Germs Go Global: Why Emerging Infectious Diseases Are a Threat to America" on 29th October. The report states that at least 170,000 Americans die every year from newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and that this number could go up dramatically in a pandemic of flu or other unknown disease.

The non-profit, non-partisan group said that globalization, increasing drug resistance, and climate change are some of the reasons.

TFAH Executive Director, Dr Jeffrey Levi said it's not just the developing world that is under threat from infectious diseases:

"They are a real threat right here, right now to America's economy, security, and health system."

"Infectious diseases can come without warning, crossing borders, often before people even know they are sick," said Levi.

"Americans are more vulnerable than we think we are, and our public health defenses are not as strong as they should be," he added.

The TFAH said major threats include:

• New emerging diseases with pandemic potential like flu and SARS ( severe acute respiratory syndrome).


• Dengue fever, usually brought back to the US by travellers, infects 100 to 200 Americans a year.


• MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) has infected over 90,000 Americans and is the 6th leading cause of death in the US.


• Hepatitis: about 3.2 million Americans are infected with hepatitis C with a national healthcare cost of 15 billion dollars.
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• HIV/AIDS: about 1.2 million Americans have HIV/AIDS while over half a million have died of AIDS since 1981. The total federal bill for HIV/AIDS, including medical care, prevention and research comes to 23.3 billion dollars.


• Re-emerging diseases such as mumps, measles and TB, which were thought to have virtually disappeared in the US.

In terms of fighting infectious diseases, the report found what it called many "major vulnerabilities" in US strategy, including:

• New drugs and treatments to fight infections from bacteria that are developing greater resistance have received less attention than how to counter an intentional biological attack.


• Monitoring and reporting of diseases should be faster and seamless across state and local health departments and other jurisdiction boundaries.


• Information needs to be shared more within the country and with other international bodies and countries to help detect new microbial threats and support global efforts to counter them.


• Better and faster diagnostic tests are needed across the board for all emerging infectious diseases especially at the point of care.


• The world's three largest killers, HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria still have no effective vaccine, while many of the children in the world do not receive currently available highly effective vaccines.

James Hughes, Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the School of Medicine and Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and Former Director of the National Centers of Infectious Diseases at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said:

"There are a number of examples, including West Nile virus, SARS, monkeypox, and H5N1 influenza, which remind us that in today's world, microbes can spread rapidly across borders and from continent to continent."

"Trends in factors influencing infectious disease emergence -- for example, population growth and urbanization, international travel and commerce, climate and ecosystem changes -- generally operate in favor of the microbes," he added.

Hughes said it was in the national interest to show political will and act to:

"Address microbial threats domestically and globally in collaboration with a broad range of partners."

TFAH suggests a number of recommendations which are largely similar to those made by the Institute of Medicine's 2003 report "Microbial Threats to Health" and exhorts governments at all levels to give more funds to research, collaborate, share information and show global leadership in the fight against infectious diseases.

Sources: Trust for America's Health.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD.


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