Infectious Disease and Epidemics  

Infectious Disease and Epidemics

Key facts     

• Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide.
• In 2017, 10 million people fell ill with TB, and 1.6 million died from the disease (including 0.3 million among people with HIV).
• TB is a leading killer of HIV-positive people.
• In 2017, an estimated 1 million children became ill with TB and 230 000 children died of TB (including children with HIV associated TB).
• Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis and a health security threat. WHO estimates that there were 558 000 new cases with resistance to rifampicin – the most effective first-line drug, of which – 82% had MDR-TB.
• Globally, TB incidence is falling at about 2% per year. This needs to accelerate to a 4–5% annual decline to reach the 2020 milestones of the End TB Strategy.
• An estimated 54 million lives were saved through TB diagnosis and treatment between 2000 and 2017.
• Ending the TB epidemic by 2030 is among the health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

1.6 million people still die from pneumococcal diseases every year, making it the number one vaccine-preventable cause of death worldwide. More than half of the victims are children. (The pneumococcus is a bacterium that causes serious infections like meningitis, pneumonia and sepsis. In developing countries, even half of those children who receive medical treatment will die. Every second surviving child will have some kind of disability.)

Malaria causes some 225 million acute illnesses and over 780,000 deaths, annually

164,000 people, mostly children under 5, died from measles in 2008 (the latest years for which figures are available, at time of writing) even though effective immunization, which includes vaccine and safe injection equipment, costs less than 1 US dollars and has been available for more than 40 years.

These and other diseases kill more people each year than conflict alone.

Why has it got to such a level when the world has enough wealth to help address most of these problems, or at least alleviate more of the suffering?

In 2008, some 6.7 million people died of infectious diseases alone, far more than the number killed in the natural or man-made catastrophes that make headlines. (These are the latest figures presented by the World Health Organization.)

AIDS/HIV has spread rapidly. UNAIDS estimates for 2008 that there were roughly:

33.4 million living with HIV

2.7 million new infections of HIV

2 million deaths from AIDS

 

Blood-feeding arthropods, ticks transmit pathogens to humans and domestic animals more often than other arthropod vectors. Livestock farming plays a vital role in the rural economy of Pakistan, and tick infestation causes serious problems with it. However, research on tick species diversity and tick-borne pathogens has rarely been conducted in Pakistan. In this study, a systematic investigation of the tick species infesting livestock in different ecological regions of Pakistan was conducted to determine the microbiome and pathobiome diversity in the indigenous ticks.

Coronavirus COVID-19 risk assessment.

The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic is a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China in December 2019. wikipedia.org

• Disease: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
• Virus strain: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
• First case: December 1, 2019
• Origin: Wuhan, Hubei, China
• Symptoms: Initial flu-like symptoms, such as fever, coughing, breathing difficulties, fatigue, and myalgia
• Incubation period: 1-14 days
• Mode of transmission: Human-to-human transmission via respiratory droplets
• Prevention tips: Avoiding close contact with sick individuals; frequently washing hands with soap and water; not touching the eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands; and practicing good respiratory hygiene

PAKISTAN

Ongoing community transmission of COVID-19 has been reported globally.

Travel Health Guidance

• Older adults and people of any age with serious chronic medical conditions are at increased risk for severe disease and should consider postponing nonessential travel to Pakistan.
• CDC recommends that you not travel when you are sick

If you travel to Pakistan:

• Monitor your health and practice social distancing for 14 days after returning to the United States
• Avoid contact with sick people
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol

Visit CDCs webpage for additional information about travel to Pakistan.