Infectious diseases deaths from

According to the World Health Organization, infectious disease still accounts for approximately 26% of deaths globally (15 million) and is the leading cause of death in people younger than 50. Each year approximately 3 million children die from malaria and diarrheal disease alone. Ninety percent of all infectious disease deaths are caused by only six diseases (World Health Organization, 1999) ... 

Tuberculosis is a major health problem throughout the world, infecting more than 8 million individuals each year. It is die world s leading cause of death from infectious disease Individuals living in crowded conditions, those widi compromised immune systems, and individuals widi debilitative conditions are especially susceptible to tuberculosis. 

Finally, one of the most difficult types of crises to address is the death of a client. People with drug problems often lead very risky lives, and the threat of death may be ever present with such clients. People who use drugs are at risk from infectious diseases such as hepatitis and AIDS, from suicide and homicide, and from accidents. The saddest events in my professional career have been associated with losing a client. Such losses burden professionals, who may assume some level of responsibility for the death or may feel a sense of loss in not being able to meet with the client any more. Be aware that caregivers sometimes need care themselves, and this is one particular situation in which that may be true. Do not be shy about seeking help if you feel that the death of a client has adversely affected your professional or personal life. 

The result of vaccination programmes have been very impressive. The treatment of certain infectious diseases have been drastically reduced, with their virtual elimination from some countries where they formerly caused considerable disability and many deaths. Vaccination has also opened up the possibility of completely eradicating some diseases from the face of the earth e.g. small pox and polio. 

Infectious diseases are largely responsible for the health inequalities between developing nations and developed nations. More than 70 per cent of the world s HIV/ AIDS cases and 90 per cent of the world s malaria infections occur in Africa. Ninety per cent of the deaths from TB and diarrhea each year occur in the developing world (lOWH 2005). The average HALE at birth was 38.7 in Chad, 33.2 in Ethiopia, 29.8 in Malawi,... 

The infectious killer disease, tuberculosis (TB), is the leading cause of death worldwide from a single human pathogen, claiming more adult lives than diseases such as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), malaria, diarrhea, leprosy, and all other tropical diseases combined. The organism usually responsible, the tubercle bacillus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT), was discovered by Robert Koch in 1882. However, M. bovis, which infects cattle, may also infect humans, and M. africanum is a cause of TB in West Africa. Furthermore, a number of normally nonpathogenic mycobacteria, especially M. avium, M. intracellulare, and M. scrofulaceum, cause opportunistic infectious disease in patients with AIDS. Pulmonary TB, the most common type of the disease, is usually acquired by inhalation of the bacillus from an infectious patient and causes irreversible lung destruction (Newton et al., 2000). 

Reducing Environmental Death rate from intestinal infectious diseases. Child death... 

Tuberculosis (TB), an infection of M. tuberculosis, still remains the leading cause of death worldwide among infectious diseases. The statistics indicate that 3 million people throughout the world die annually from TB and there... 

It is estimated that about 2000 years ago, the average life expectancy (birth to death) of a Roman citizen was 22 years (W6). From then to 1900 it increased to 47 years in the United States and over the subsequent nine decades (1992) increased to 75.8 years (G16) (Fig. 1). This remarkable increase in life expectancy since 1900 is due primarily to the prominent decline in neonatal, infant, and maternal mortality rates, along with the control of various infectious diseases. More recently, there has been a significant, albeit much less, reduction in early deaths due to coronary heart disease and stroke (i.e., due to atherosclerosis), as well as to improved management and treatment of diabetes mellitus, cancer, and various other chronic disorders. Nevertheless, the maximum theoretical life span has possibly increased slightly over the past many centuries. The oldest-ever documented person in the world, Jeanne Calment of France, died on August 4, 1997, at the age of 122 years, 5 months, and 14 days (W10). It has recently been suggested that the maximum life span could be extended to 130 years or more (M6). 

Deaths and injuries from earthquakes vary according to the type of housing available, time of day of occurrence, and population density. Common injuries include cuts, broken bones, crush injuries, and dehydration from being trapped in rubble. Stress reactions are also common. Morbidity and mortality can occur during the actual quake, the delayed collapse of unsound structures, or cleanup activity. Disruption of the earth may release pathogens that when inhaled can lead to increased reports of infectious disease (see Case Study 17.3). 

Plague is possibly the most feared infectious disease in the history of humankind. More than 200 million people have died from plague. In its most notorious manifestation, the so-called Black Death of the Middle Ages, plague was responsible for a pandemic that affected Europe between the 8th and 14th centuries, decimating nearly 40% of the population (McGovern Friedlander, 1997). 

The value of spotting the unusual has been demonstrated by a number of infectious disease outbreaks in the United States. A classic example is the initial reports of the human immunodeficiency virus epidemic. Alert clinicians in California and New York City noted clusters of rare illnesses, Kaposi s sarcoma and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, among homosexual male clients in their practices (CDC, 1981a, 1981b). In May 1993, a New Mexico medical examiner reported two deaths from acute respiratory failure 5 days apart (CDC, 1993). 

Patients exposed to higher levels of radiation will experience more severe radiation sickness that will appear more rapidly. A patient receiving a dose of about 400 rad has a 50% chance of death without medical intervention, primarily from radiation-induced immune system suppression and subsequent infectious disease. 

Since Ehrlich s time there has been continual progress in the de velopment of new chemotherarpeutic agents. Fifteen years ago the infectious diseases constituted the principal cause of death now most of these diseases are under effective control by chemotherapeutic agents, some of which have been synthesized in the laboratory and some of which have been isolated from micro-organisms. At the present time only a fetv of the infectious diseases, especially certain viral diseases, such as poliomyelitis, constitute major hazards to the health of man, and we may confidently anticipate that the control of these diseases by chemotherapeutic agents will be achieved in a few years. 

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