Analytical Essay on Factors Causing Infectious Diseases

For the vast majority of our history as a species, groups of humans have always interacted with other groups thereof. This has led to the spread of communicable diseases that have brought about illness and death. The carnage wrought by the bubonic plague in Eurasia in the 14th century and by smallpox and strains of influenza in North and South America in the 16th century are striking manifestations of this phenomenon (Cunha 2004). As our technological empowerment has increased exponentially, so has our vulnerability to pandemics, exacerbated by the rapid mutation of bacteria leading to newly emergent strains. This is principally the result of two factors. Firstly, improvements in transport technology have resulted in the movements of large numbers of individuals and groups over large geographical distances to an unprecedented extent. Secondly, as the population of our species has increased significantly, so has the density of many urban areas around the world. These modern advancements have seen notable infectious diseases take advantage and disseminate globally, in this regard are Ebola, HIV, SARS and strains of the Influenza virus. These enormous changes to the mode of human existence has facilitated the emergence and spread of disease and will continue to pose a significant regional and global threat.

One of the greatest changes in the model of communal living that humans have adopted since we evolved to lead a nomadic existence on the African savannah has been the high-intensity environment of a city. This has challenged a community’s ability to deal with issues of hygiene and crucially has allowed for the spread of communicable diseases. Community-associated areas such as schools are vulnerable to the manifestation of infectious diseases, due to the close interactions within the moderate duration of 6 hours per day for 5 days a week (Salathe et al. 2010). The developing country of Africa is significantly prone to the spread of HIV among young adults and surprisingly is found among school students and teachers. The dense school communities have a potential for sexual partners to pass on HIV and other infectious diseases such as Ebola to their partners. It was discovered that there was a high rate of male and female students in schools who were unaware of their own and their partner's HIV status (Morrell 2003). Such students pose a risk of acquiring a potentially infectious disease, and this passivity regarding the risk of infection increases the likelihood of the disease being dispersed. While there are clear cultural economic and political factors that promote the spread of HIV, the density of the population in many urban centers has been a particularly influential factor.

Another change to the manner in which humans have traditionally existed since prehistory has been brought by the modern phenomenon of travel. The stories of great voyages of explorers often contain the element of the introduction of disease that catastrophically had affected the native population (Wilson 1995). The tyranny of distance was such that outbreaks of disease were historically limited to particular geographical areas or were very slow to spread. However, advances in transport technology have produced a world in which individuals and groups constantly criss-cross the globe. The yearning to explore exotic countries has been exploited by young adults for years and has allowed the spread of emerging infectious diseases to proliferate. Young adults mostly take advantage of budget traveling and are at the greatest risk of contracting HIV from other destinations (UNICEF 2002). Tourists risk contracting a new infectious disease as they are exposed to an unknown pathogen to which they have no current resistance to. HIV incubates in the body for a few weeks, this is enough time for a tourist to return home and potentially disperse the infectious disease before flu-like symptoms occur. As young adults are still developing the skills and awareness of modern society, mistakes are easily made, resulting in consequences not just for the individual but others that they interact with. Each country has different regulations and laws, including the legal alcohol-drinking age. In Australia the legal age of alcohol consumption is 18, however it is 21 in America, due to peer pressure and advanced access of travel, this can drive teenagers and young adults to venture to countries with lower age-accepted laws such as Belgium (Ahlstrom & Osterberg 2004). Alcohol and other drugs used can increase risk of making bad decisions, such as participating in unprotected sex with locals in developing countries (Abbey et al. 2005). Traveling internationally has increased the distribution and incidence rate of infectious diseases, as people become attracted to low-cost holidays and budget trips in many undeveloped countries (Soto 2009). Business travelers are also highly associated with the increased risk of obtaining an infectious disease such as HIV. Businessmen are regularly guilty of participating in sexual interactions with locals when away on business trips (Richens 2006). As there is a high frequency of infection in developing countries compared to developed countries, individuals that participate in this noted activity, increase the prevalence of the infectious disease being transmitted. The highly transmitted infectious disease, Ebola, has taken advantage of advancements in transportation. As Ebola is spread through the transfer of bodily fluids and direct contact, during the conveyance of an individual, the potential risk of infectious disease can be contracted through communication amongst other passengers within a condensed space such as plane. Another re-emerging infectious disease that is taking advantage of modern transportation is SARS. The outbreak of SARS in Hong Kong at the Amoy Gardens was found to be a result of airborne transmission of the infectious disease, more than 300 secondary infected passengers were recorded. Five potential compacted aircraft of 120 passengers were found to have been carrying these infected passengers, the 3-hour flight allowed enough time for the virus to be transferred to multiple passengers due to the disease’s highly contagious factors (Mangili & Gendreau 2005). The evolution of modern transportation has allowed for constant global travel, consequently, this has also paved an effective worldwide route for the spread of infectious diseases.

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The amplification of international access has provided the ability for individuals to migrate from their origin to another region for permanent residence. Foreign-born individuals' health is influenced by their origin, the migration environment and their new residence, this process can bridge the way for disease incidence and transmission between regions (Gushulak & MacPherson 2004). Immigrants are found to have a higher incidence rate of HIV than locals in places such as North America. Similarly in Canada, Canadian immigrants were found to have doubled the amount of HIV cases in children (Barnett 2008). The migration of individuals challenges the health of the environment as they play a significant role in the spread and prevalence of infectious diseases. Immigration causes disruptions in population dynamics and densities, challenging communities' health and creating an unstable environment in which acts as an optimal breeding ground for infectious diseases.

Fauna and flora are globally traded, used by zoos, conservation workers and food product industries. The arrival of fauna, such as a bat species for zoos, has the potential to spread the contracted infectious disease to other organisms who come in contact with the animal, such as humans. (Soto 2009). Such human activities have allowed new infectious diseases to be nationally spread affecting communities. The significant advancement of transportation in modern society has allowed an increase of trade in a shorter time, spiking the rapid diffusion of infectious diseases. The global trade of fauna and flora is expanding and allows for a mechanism of infectious disease transmission which threatens both humans and wildlife. During trades, contact is established between the product, such as wildlife, the consumer and the marketer, this close interaction has the possibility to trigger an outbreak of infectious disease. The global significance of trade, linked with the rapid current transportation and marketing networks, drastically increases the potential and drive of the transferral of the infectious agents of every wildlife species (Karesh et al. 2005). Partnerships formed between federal organizations, veterinary and wildlife associations and private manufacturing, assist in the health of the product and the prevention the transmission of an infectious disease. However, a rise in the failure of partnerships globally has seen the distribution and introduction of re-emerging infectious diseases, as guidelines are passively missed before the dispatching of goods. Failure in partnerships between companies, health authorities and veterinarians saw the live bird markets in Hong Kong being subject to the H5N1 influenza virus, affecting both surrounding species and consumers (Van den Berg 2009). Trade in food production is the largest global trade performed globally and also has the potential to spread infectious diseases. Large companies such as Woolworth's commerce with local farmers across Australia however due to ongoing seasonal changes, some products such as oranges aren't available from Australian farmers, thus the national company turns to global trade (Lyons 2007). However, this allows for contamination to occur. In the case of a supermarket in Guangzhou, the H5N1 avian influenza virus was detected in a goose cage through a swab examination by one of the employees. It was reported that birds that were kept together in cages closely before being freshly slaughtered for customers, could potentially contain the virus. This close proximity allows for the avian influenza virus to be transferred between poultry easily. Consumers that visited the poultry market were at risk of being affected also by this re-emerging infectious disease. A woman was diagnosed with the influenza virus two weeks after she had visited the supermarket’s live poultry section, others were also later recorded to have been diagnosed with the virus (Amonsin et al. 2008). The development and enhancement of transportation has allowed human activities such as trade to be undertaken expeditiously, granting new and re-emerging infectious diseases to disseminate rapidly.

Global events such as war, have caused changes in human migrational patterns, with people having to flee their countries to save themselves. However, these dynamic events have the potential to cause the introduction of new and re-emerging infectious diseases to other regions. Wars often cause a complicated crisis in civilian communities with participants experiencing food shortages, loss of community members, population displacement and transmission of diseases. It was seen that the dynamic of HIV was increased in the war period as there was a rise in sexual interactions, injectable drug use and blood transfusions for injuries. During wartime, citizens are vulnerable to general predation by others who had access to food and water, and were potentially raped by foreign soldiers, used to terrorize and displace communities. While overseas, some soldiers and other separated men were more frequently engaged in prostitution and forms of the sex trade, which increased the acquirement of HIV from sexual partners. When left unnoticed, it could later be brought back to their community (Hankins et al. 2002). Barbaric wars often lead to a major movement of citizens trying to migrate to safer residency, risking their lives and health and they were known as refugees. When people attempt to escape from their country, they bring items and food with them. These items, especially food and water, can easily carry infectious diseases within them. The infectious disease then has the potential to be transferred into a community of people that have not obtained any sort of current resistance. Within refugee camps, the condensed spaces allow for close interaction with one another, this allows the profound transmission of infectious diseases across the dense community. It was reported that HIV was found in multiple refugee camps, as women that had obtained this infectious disease from rape and sexual violence during the wars, were unknowingly spreading the disease to other sexual partners within the camps. The density of these camps increased the prevalence of HIV as individuals had multiple sexual partners within the close community (Long & Long 1997). Once refugees undertake resettlement in the new country, they contribute significantly to the population density in an urban area, which provides a suitable environment for infectious diseases to manifest and spread.

Infectious diseases continue to be affected by noted factors of the changing migrational patterns and rising population density and as technological advancements pursue new and re-emerging infectious diseases will continue to appear and manifest within modern society.