World sees an explosion in new infectious diseases (And it's all our fault!)

Mercury News ^ | May 4, 2003 | SETH BORENSTEIN

[FairOpinion]

WASHINGTON - Get used to SARS, West Nile, Hantavirus, Ebola, Nipah, Hendra, AIDS and other new nasty infectious diseases. Health experts say we're living in a new age of infections.

And we have mostly ourselves to blame.

The nation's top scientists say that environmental, economic, social and scientific changes have helped to trigger an unprecedented explosion of more than 35 new infectious diseases that have burst upon the world in the past 30 years. The U.S. death rate from infectious disease, which dropped in the first part of the 20th century and then stabilized, is now double what it was in 1980.

[FairOpinion]

Well, what can I say? It's all the fault of technology and industry and social inequality. Right!

It's amazing how far some of these leftists go to try to blame everything on the industrialized nations.

He ignores the millions who died of smallpox, plague, etc. throughout history, before industrialization.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks there is more poverty now than in the past is just stupid, and has nothing of interest to say on any subject.

[FairOpinion]

I was being sarcastic.
I think the article was stupid, I just posted it as demonstration of how far some are willing to go, to even use these epidemics to further their socialist agenda.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

I didn't mean you were stupid, I was talking about Dr. Fred Sparling, who said, "We have...more poverty and social inequalities, which clearly add to it."

[Dark Wing]

FYI

[templar]

I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks there is more poverty now than in the past is just stupid, and has nothing of interest to say on any subject.

Problem is that a lot of what we call poverty today was called wealth in the past. I'm old enough to remember when claiming to eat "three squares a day" (meaning being able to afford three real meals a day) was claiming a degree of real prosperity. Today, obesity seems to be a major problem among the poor (in this country).

[nonliberal]

If we throw money at the diseases, they will go away. Let's give Africa MORE money.

(/sarcasm off)

[facedown]

Those 13 factors are microbial adaptation and change;...

Should have stopped right there. Have these guys ever heard of Hospital staph?

Also, resumption of the controlled use of DDT would eliminate a lot of the insect carriers.

[DugwayDuke]

So true, one wonders too if any of these "experts" ever had first hand experience in the levels of sanitation existing in third world countries or the improvements in sanitation in the last fifty years of so? And, I guess our fore fathers never came into contact with wild creatures while expanding across the continent.

[LadyDoc]

I'm reading a book on American Indian history. They got hit with influenza, smallpox, measles etc.when the Spanish arrived.

At the same time, Europe got hit with syphillis,either from the Americas or from Africa, brought back by sailors.

Bubonic plague spread down the silk road, partly spread by Gehngas khan's armies, but also spread thanks to the increased trade in Europe and between europe and asia.

Ancient Rome got hit by importing Malaria from north Africa, and then plagues from their battles with Persia.

Much of the AIDS Ebola etc in Africa are spread thanks to the trans African road and the movement of tribal peoples into cities.

Maybe we now have more germs going around in a shorter time, thanks to airplanes and increasing travel by even common people.

So maybe we should go back to the good old days, when everything you ate or produced was used locally, where to travel 6 miles by foot to town to go to a fiesta was a big trip, and where local illnesses wiped out the villages but didn't travel to the next village thanks to isolation.

[yankeedame]

Well, what can I say? It's all the fault of technology and industry and social inequality...

Yeah, and that we've got a Republican administration! By Jupiter, we never had these kinds of problems when Bill Clinton (or even Jimmy Carter) was in power. (sarcasm)

[green team 1999]

This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang, but a whimper.
- T. S. Eliot

[pragmatic_asian]

Some autopsies showed that some Europeans had symptoms of syphillis 2 centuries before the discovery of the Americas. It may well have been Europeans who spread it since it wasn't a disease that lent itself to openess.

[First Amendment]

Those 13 factors are microbial adaptation and change; human susceptibility to infection; climate and weather; changing ecosystems; human demographics and behavior; economic development and land use; international travel and commerce; technology and industry; breakdown of public health measures; poverty and social inequality; war and famine; lack of political will; and bioterrorism.

I was paying attention to this article until this list!! Really crazy!! How the he!! does "lack of political will" cause disease? What is political will? I love "social inequality" too!

[Porterville]

Gee, I don't know, I'm not afraid of gettin' HIV, Hep-C, Ebola, Hunta, Polio, TB, Small Pox, SARS, West Nile, Malaria, etc....

But then again I don't have sex with other men or shoot up heroine so my immunity isn't as low as most democrats.

[Porterville]

It seems to me that most modern day disease is due to VICE not political will.

[DannyTN]

"Those 13 factors are microbial adaptation and change; human susceptibility to infection; climate and weather; changing ecosystems; human demographics and behavior; economic development and land use; international travel and commerce; technology and industry; breakdown of public health measures; poverty and social inequality; war and famine; lack of political will; and bioterrorism. "

The article would have been a lot better had he expounded on the factors. Of the 13 factors, I only see 4 that have changed, that put us more at risk. The others have either not changed, or have put us at less risk.

Factors listed which haven't changed.

• microbial adaptation; I don't see any reason this would be different than historical norms.
• human susceptibility to infection: I would think we have a better understanding of nutrition and treatment and this is less of a risk, than greater. The one exception is the homosexual and drug use community.
• Climate & Weather: I don't think these have changed significantly.
• changing ecosystems: I don't think these have changed significantly either. Ok, there are fewer wolves and tigers, how does that reduce disease. It doesn't. don't believe wildlife is any closer to humans than it has ever been. China's pet birds seem to be a recent cause of serveral scares. Historically, I'd say it was a lot closer. Perhaps there are more animals kept as pets. Modern farming with lots of animals in a small area could contribute to disease, but we haven't really seen that occur.
• economic development and land use; I don't buy this. I don't believe wildlife is any closer to humans than it has ever been. China's pet birds seem to be a recent cause of serveral scares. Historically, I'd say it was a lot closer. Perhaps there are more animals kept as pets. Modern farming with lots of animals in a small area could contribute to disease, but we haven't really seen that occur.
• technology and industry; I don't see how this is a factor at all. If anything technology has given us tools against disease. Anti-biotics can be blamed for antibiotic resistance diseases, but as opposed to what, Just letting people die?
• war and famine: war and famine certainly are health risks for all the reasons above. But this hasn't changed, there have always been wars.
• poverty and social inequality: Poverty is always a health risk, both poor nutrition, poor sanitation, and crowded conditions always have been and always will be a health risk.
• breakdown of public health measures: This should be failure to spread public health measures worldwide, instead of breakdown. The health field is hurting a little due to cost cutting measures, but we still have better medicine than the vast majority of human history.
• poverty and social inequality: Poverty is always a health risk, both poor nutrition, poor sanitation, and crowded conditions always have been and always will be a health risk.

  Factors that do contribute

• human demographics and behavior; I'll buy that because we are living in mega cities that there is increased spread of disease. There have been major advances in sanitation but parts of the world, like China need to vastly improve both their sanitation and education of their people.
• international travel and commerce: There is no denying that disease can spread intercontinental much faster. This is an argument for more teleconferencing and less international travel. But unless we quarantine international travelers, I don't see an easy solution here.
• lack of political will: I'll buy this. The WHO should have acted to SARS to quarantine and impose travel restrictions sooner. If China spent a fraction of what they spend on missles on sanitation, they would be less of a risk.
• bioterrorism: This is clearly a new development which increases the risk. West Nile and SARS may fall into this category.

[Petronski]

"Our" fault? Who do they mean? Republicans? Greedy Capitalists? NFL fans? Gearheads?

What'd I do now?