In order to understand better what globalization of infectious disease is, is important to understand the meaning of globalization. In our days, the globalization has reached all the areas that have to do with the humankind. It influences not just information, but also goods, capital and people across political or even geographic boundaries. However, it is not always for good. With the globalization the spread of diseases has increased through the history and unfortunately, it is becoming more dangerous every day. By itself, globalization does not distinguish borders, even if those are natural borders like mountains, valleys or an entire ocean. In the same way, some of the most deathliest infectious diseases are being developed so quickly that now it is possible to understand why what we call globalization is part of the spread of deathliest diseases. Globalization of infectious diseases does not refer to one single set of illnesses but rather to a broad group of widely varying conditions. This problem is even bigger when non-communicable group of diseases from a determined area or country is becoming part of the list of the infectious one.
The causes of the globalization of infectious diseases are varied. In the 18th century, the most important example of this kind of globalization was the bubonic plague and the influenza of various types, in which the main reason was the shipment of grains and other food from Asia to Europe. It might take months, even years at that time, to propagate itself in the whole continent; even though, now it can take just a few days to be a pandemic. For example, just three days after the world cup was celebrated in South Africa, there were malaria cases in 7 countries of America, and some other countries of Europe and Asia. The easiest and fastest way to travel from one country to another one help to those diseases to propagate quickly, making the problem worse. In addition, the climate change is another root cause of this propagation. Now is common to find cases of non-communicable diseases from Africa or South America in the north part of Europe or North America. With the global warming many viruses find more acceptable conditions to reproduce themselves in areas that were not common to find it years ago. For those reasons, the globalization of infectious diseases is getting stronger and it is propagating quickly.
As a consequence, of this globalization of infectious diseases, many people are exposed to stronger illness due to the immunization that those are getting to certain medicines. Second, not all the people has the same immunity, it may vary depending of the region or country where they live. As an example, it is mandatory for the United Stated citizens who travel to the areas in danger, to get a treatment against any kind of disease present in the area of visit. It is important to understand that the people who live in areas, with common diseases, could get immune to those illnesses. Consequently, once they travel to a foreign country, they can carry diseases and not necessary they can be affected to them. Also, in some countries, millions of Children are growing without the present of their parent, because a disease like VIH has taken from them. Those are just some examples of the consequences that the globalization of infectious diseases is bring in.
A disease can be transmitted by airborne, waterborne, blood-borne, by direct contact or even through a vector like insects. It is not possible to eradicate it, but is our responsibility to keep it controlled. As human began to traveling overseas and across land, it is important research information about diseases which are common in the area. In that way, they can take control before they come back to the home place, in order to reduce the possibility of spread diseases and cause million of dollars to control it and any lose of lives.
Bibliography
Durand, Steven. Executive Summary - The Globalization of Infectious Disease. From http://www.prcdc.org/files/Infectious_Disease.pdf Retrieved October 20, 2010
Dr. Daulaire. Globalization and Health. From http://www.globalhealth.org/assets/html/drmed3.html Retrieved October 20, 2010
Globalization and disease from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization_and_disease Retrieved October 20, 2010
Picture taken from: http://www.google.co.cr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.vtmagazine.vt.edu/fall08/images/Web.disease.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.vtmagazine.vt.edu/fall08/ontheweb.html&usg=__AVdpL4jK8-YANvyzA8-yzFc_AAI=&h=300&w=494&sz=73&hl=es&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=ASkJt2vxilboOM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=167&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dinfectious%2Bdiseases%26hl%3Des%26gbv%3D2%26biw%3D1291%26bih%3D537%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=559&vpy=219&dur=940&hovh=175&hovw=288&tx=159&ty=97&ei=3XTgTMXzFMH48AbhlsDSDw&oei=LXTgTPyDKY6UnwfyoYGRDw&esq=6&page=1&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0
it's a shame that with all the problems in the world, more and more people are exposed to diseases that can kill thousands in the world.
ReplyDelete