Diseases like the Zika virus and the West Nile virus
are evaluated and worried over by the world.
The threat of Zika making it to the United States caused great concern this
past summer. Luckily for the States we
only had travel-related cases until the very end of the summer. Vector-borne and zoonotic diseases have been
emerging as great problems for the world.
This is another part of the history of disease changing. Concern for these diseases started appearing
in the past three decades (Kilpatrick & Randolph, 2012). My experiences at the Montgomery County
Health Department taught me how much effort can go into vector control
programs. In that county, we set traps
to catch and identify different types of mosquitoes. We sent these mosquitoes off to the Indiana
State Health Department to be further tested for disease. West Nile virus has been located in
Montgomery County. Using adulticide
spray and larvicide dunks, we tried to control the problem before it got out of
hand. I wanted to know what new steps
the world is taking at large to gain control over the vector-borne
diseases. Kilpatrick and Randolph make
the argument that clinicians are just as important as epidemiologists for the
control of these outbreaks. Once the
disease has been defined, it is the clinician’s job to properly and quickly
identify the disease. We are more often
seeing these diseases spread from human to human hosts. Examples of this are dengue fever and malaria. The Zika virus has also been known to be
transmitted by sexual contact. This is
why it is so important for clinicians to understand and diagnose the diseases
in an efficient manner. The clinicians
and epidemiologists face the difficult task of separating out the different
vector-borne illnesses because of their similar symptoms. This is one method of vector control. Other countries are looking more at fixing
the problem at the source. In China, they
hope to prevent mosquitoes from being able to carry the diseases and thus
prevent the spread. Kilpatrick and
Randolph agree that continued work needs to be done. Developing countries are at a disadvantage because
of lacking finances and technology.
Globalization is one of the reasons these vector-borne illnesses have
spread. It will take a global effort to maintain
control over any more growth for these diseases.
References:
Kilpatrick, A. M., & Randolph, S. E. (2012). Drivers, dynamics, and
control of emerging vector-borne zoonotic diseases. The Lancet, 380(9857),
1946-55.
doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.lib.purdue.edu/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61151-9
Hi Erin,
ReplyDeleteI am glad you brought up globalization to the surface again. As I have been going through each week and as we are continuously being exposed to the numerous negative impacts that globalization has had on health around the world, I believe that we as public health professionals should understand that globalization is certainly not going to go away and will only be making our world even "smaller" in terms of what it will allow us to be exposed to whether that be different cultures or even different pathogens. To alter this, I believe that we should beat it at its own game! Use globalization as a primary tool and see it as a strength in carrying out interventions. This can certainly help improve access to information, access to education, which are essential to combating many global health problems. As seen in the Education-Entertainment model, leveraging globalization and using it as a model to move things forward instead of seeing it as a deterrent is one way in which we can reverse any negative aspect that it may cause. In the E-E model, technology and entertainment merge together to create awareness, to create a buzz and have a positive influence on health behavior practices. Perhaps taking the very same approach can be a way to combat such illnesses.