Infectious disease in an era of global change

Abstract

The twenty-first century has witnessed a wave of severe infectious disease outbreaks, not least the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a devastating impact on lives and livelihoods around the globe. The 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreak, the 2009 swine flu pandemic, the 2012 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreak, the 2013–2016 Ebola virus disease epidemic in West Africa and the 2015 Zika virus disease epidemic all resulted in substantial morbidity and mortality while spreading across borders to infect people in multiple countries. At the same time, the past few decades have ushered in an unprecedented era of technological, demographic and climatic change: airline flights have doubled since 2000, since 2007 more people live in urban areas than rural areas, population numbers continue to climb and climate change presents an escalating threat to society. In this Review, we consider the extent to which these recent global changes have increased the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, even as improved sanitation and access to health care have resulted in considerable progress worldwide.

Metabolische und mentale Folgen der Pandemie

“…Bei Infektionskrankheiten haben medizinischer Fortschritt, Zugang zu medizinischer Versorgung (z. B. Impfungen) und verbesserte sanitäre Einrichtungen die Gesamtmortalität und Morbidität insbesondere bei Infektionen der unteren Atemwege und Durchfallerkrankungen reduziert [3]. Dennoch bleiben Mortalität und Morbidität im Zusammenhang mit vernachlässigten Tropenkrankheiten, HIV-Infektion, Tuberkulose und Malaria in Ländern mit niedrigem Einkommen hoch [3].…”

The Causes and Long-Term Consequences of Viral Encephalitis

“…The group of clinically relevant neurotropic arboviruses includes, among others, West Nile virus (WNV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) ( Beckham and Tyler, 2015 ; Clé et al, 2020 ). Arboviruses have emerged and increased due to the expansion of cities, and crowded conditions allow mosquitoes to spread this virus to a high number of humans ( Baker et al, 2021 ). Accordingly, WNV is a mosquito-borne neurotropic virus that can cause meningitis and even lethal encephalitis in 1–2% of the infected host ( Hayes and Gubler, 2006 ).…”

Environmental Health Perspectives on the Emergence and Re-Emergence of Infectious Diseases, Geopolitics and Gain of Function Research

“…These incorporate the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses [1,2], swine fl u, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, the Zika virus and the Ebola virus disease disseminating across international boundaries; thus, ushering in an era of unprecedented climate, demographic and technologic spatiotemporal variations [1] in both rural and urban precincts with escalating threats to hunger/food security, environment, health and socioeconomic activities [1,3,4]. These pose grave threats which require countries with vast resources and conscionable geopolitical imperatives to contribute and enhance global health and environmental security to stem the increased risk in the emergence and reemergence of novel infectious diseases [5][6][7].…”