New infectious diseases

Even when a disease has been effectively treated in a conntry, retention of the disease in small isolated pockets can act as a source for future infection. This can readily occnr when movement of even a small nnmber of infected people into a population in which the immnne system is impaired can lead to the spread of this new disease to areas that were previously free of it. Chronic illness due to malnutrition can weaken the immune system which then facilitates the spread of an infection. This is a particular problem if malnutrition is accompanied by a chronic illness. Althongh malnutrition and accompanying diseases are associated with developing countries, the phenomenon also occurs in developed countries, for example, in the very poor, the homeless, drug abusers and the elderly. It is now considered to be a major factor in the increased incidence of tuberculosis in these gronps. 

The jet plane has made it easy to travel to and from previously inaccessible parts of the world, for business or vacation. Infectious diseases or agents that transmit these diseases can, therefore, be rapidly transferred to countries in which the population has never encountered the diseases, so that the infection rapidly spreads throughout the population. Such transport of pathogens is reminiscent of the transmission of diseases that were previously unknown in North America but were transported from Africa in the slave ships. For example, the mosquito Aedes aegypti, which transmits the virus that causes yellow fever, was probably transported in water barrels on these ships. 

Lyme disease and AIDS are two of a number of diseases that have transferred from animals to humans. Diseases that have been transmitted from domestic animals to hnmans are known as zoonoses (some examples are given in Table 17.9). 

A qnite remarkable story began in Los Angeles in 1981. A pharmacist noted a sndden increase in the number of prescriptions for pentamidine, which is a drug used to treat 

CH 17 DEFENCE AGAINST PATHOGENS BARRIERS, ENZYMES AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM 

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Depositary States - United Kingdom, United States of America and the then Soviet Union - produced a joint paper on relevant scientific and technical developments.27 This was divided into seven sections, covering inter alia recombinant DNA techniques, new infectious diseases and microbial control of pests. The assessments made in the paper appear today to have been somewhat optimistic. In regard to the new recombinant DNA techniques, for example, the paper states that ... 

In regard to new infectious diseases, again the perspective had changed ... 

With the advent of the antibiotic era, the possibility was raised that infectious diseases would be eradicated altogether. However, infections still remain the leading cause of death worldwide [1]. New infectious diseases are continually being identified and, in addition, many known pathogens which were under control are again becoming health problems [11-... 

Ampel NM. Plagues—What s past is present Thoughts on the origin and history of new infectious diseases. Rev Infect Dis. 1991 13(Jul-Aug) 658-665. 

Hochachka, W.M., Dhondt, A.A. Density-dependent decline of host abundance resulting from a new infectious disease. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 97(10), 5303-5306 (2000). http //www.pnas.org/content/97/10/5303.abstract... 

The increasing threat of bioterrorism and continued emergence of new infectious diseases have driven a major resurgence in biomedical research... 

New infectious diseases appear regularly in different parts of the globe, most recently swine flu, creating new global health threats. The appearance of new... 

Melatonin thus could represent a new approach to the physiological control of stress and stress-related infectious diseases (48). 

World Pat. 9529700-Al (1995), B. E. Haynes and T. J. Palker, "New Peptide Corresponding to HIV Sequences Used for Induciug Protective Immunity to HIV and iu the Treatment of e.g. Auto-Immune Disease Infectious Diseases and Tumors" (to Duke University). 

L. D. Sabath and co-workers, iu R. L. Simmons and R. J. Howard, ed.. Surgical Infectious Disease, Appleton-Century-Croft, New York, 1982, pp. 409-416. 

Lopez-Berestein, G. (1989). Treatment of systemic fungal infections with liposomal-amphotericin B, in Liposomes in the Therapy of Infectious Diseases and Cancer (G. Lopez-Berestein and I. J. Fidler, eds.), Alan R. Liss, New York, pp. 317-327. 

Mandell G.L., Douglas R.G. Bennett J.E. (eds) 995) Principles andPractice of Infectious Diseases, 4th edn. New York John Wiley. 

For those infectious diseases that are transmitted to humans via insect vectors the onset and decline phases of epidemics are rarely observed other than as a reflections of the seasonal variation in the prevalence of the insect. Rather, the disease is endemic within the population group and has a steady incidence of new cases. Diseases such as these are generally controlled by public health measures and environmental control of the vector with vaccination and immunization being deployed to protect individuals (e.g. yellow fever vaccination). 

DuPont H. Shigella species (bacillary dysentery). IN Mandell GL, Bennett JE, and Dolin R, (eds.) Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases, 6th ed. New York Churchill Livingstone 2004 2655. 

Clinical Pharmacy Specialist Infectious Diseases Ochsner Clinic Foundation New Orleans, Louisiana Chapter 83 Vaccines and Toxoids... 

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