Population Movements, Environmental Factors, and Infectious Disease Transmission

Population Movements, Environmental Factors, and Infectious Disease Transmission PDF Author: Alexandre Blake
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Infectious disease transmission is deeply tied to host mobility and the environment. Transmission can occur when susceptible individuals contact either infectious hosts or environmental reservoirs. For humans, this contact is often the direct result of the mobility of susceptible and infected individuals or the influence of the environment on host mobility and/or pathogen survival. Although these fundamental principles are well known, there is strong spatial heterogeneity in mobility and its drivers. There has also been an exponential increase in mobility in the last 150 years. Many critical features of our environment have changed rapidly during this same time as well. A better understanding of the dynamic interactions between pathogens, host mobility, particularly human mobility, and the environment is necessary to design effective infectious disease control strategy. This dissertation examines these interactions by investigating how mobility and environment influence the dynamics of two diseases: measles and cholera. Measles is a viral disease that infects human hosts exclusively, while cholera is a bacterial disease with an aquatic reservoir. Measles infection, or successful vaccination, leads to life-long immunity. In contrast, for cholera, immunity following infection or successful vaccination is short-lived. These fundamental differences between the two diseases allowed me to focus on specific aspects on the interactions between transmission, mobility, and the environment. I first explore how population mobility influences measles transmission in Niger. I then consider a more complex situation with both population mobility and environmental factors potentially influencing cholera transmission and persistence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), first in a city and next in a larger metapopulation. I also investigate the data representativeness for estimating population size and mobility in a health vulnerable population, a semi-nomadic population in Namibia. I focus on a modern data stream, mobile phone-based data, that is frequently used to represent mobility in public health efforts. I examine these interactions at various spatial scales using statistical and mechanistic modeling associating surveillance data and geospatial information. My findings emphasize that expanding our understanding of how mobility and environmental factors influence pathogen transmission is critical to improve and adapt infectious disease control strategies. Understanding these interactions is critical to directly target transmission in settings where traditional strategies have consistently produced suboptimal results.

Population Movements, Environmental Factors, and Infectious Disease Transmission

Population Movements, Environmental Factors, and Infectious Disease Transmission PDF Author: Alexandre Blake
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Infectious disease transmission is deeply tied to host mobility and the environment. Transmission can occur when susceptible individuals contact either infectious hosts or environmental reservoirs. For humans, this contact is often the direct result of the mobility of susceptible and infected individuals or the influence of the environment on host mobility and/or pathogen survival. Although these fundamental principles are well known, there is strong spatial heterogeneity in mobility and its drivers. There has also been an exponential increase in mobility in the last 150 years. Many critical features of our environment have changed rapidly during this same time as well. A better understanding of the dynamic interactions between pathogens, host mobility, particularly human mobility, and the environment is necessary to design effective infectious disease control strategy. This dissertation examines these interactions by investigating how mobility and environment influence the dynamics of two diseases: measles and cholera. Measles is a viral disease that infects human hosts exclusively, while cholera is a bacterial disease with an aquatic reservoir. Measles infection, or successful vaccination, leads to life-long immunity. In contrast, for cholera, immunity following infection or successful vaccination is short-lived. These fundamental differences between the two diseases allowed me to focus on specific aspects on the interactions between transmission, mobility, and the environment. I first explore how population mobility influences measles transmission in Niger. I then consider a more complex situation with both population mobility and environmental factors potentially influencing cholera transmission and persistence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), first in a city and next in a larger metapopulation. I also investigate the data representativeness for estimating population size and mobility in a health vulnerable population, a semi-nomadic population in Namibia. I focus on a modern data stream, mobile phone-based data, that is frequently used to represent mobility in public health efforts. I examine these interactions at various spatial scales using statistical and mechanistic modeling associating surveillance data and geospatial information. My findings emphasize that expanding our understanding of how mobility and environmental factors influence pathogen transmission is critical to improve and adapt infectious disease control strategies. Understanding these interactions is critical to directly target transmission in settings where traditional strategies have consistently produced suboptimal results.

Under the Weather

Under the Weather PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309072786
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
Since the dawn of medical science, people have recognized connections between a change in the weather and the appearance of epidemic disease. With today's technology, some hope that it will be possible to build models for predicting the emergence and spread of many infectious diseases based on climate and weather forecasts. However, separating the effects of climate from other effects presents a tremendous scientific challenge. Can we use climate and weather forecasts to predict infectious disease outbreaks? Can the field of public health advance from "surveillance and response" to "prediction and prevention?" And perhaps the most important question of all: Can we predict how global warming will affect the emergence and transmission of infectious disease agents around the world? Under the Weather evaluates our current understanding of the linkages among climate, ecosystems, and infectious disease; it then goes a step further and outlines the research needed to improve our understanding of these linkages. The book also examines the potential for using climate forecasts and ecological observations to help predict infectious disease outbreaks, identifies the necessary components for an epidemic early warning system, and reviews lessons learned from the use of climate forecasts in other realms of human activity.

The Social Ecology of Infectious Diseases

The Social Ecology of Infectious Diseases PDF Author: Kenneth H. Mayer
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080557147
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 523

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Book Description
Social Ecology of Infectious Diseases explores how human activities enable microbes to disseminate and evolve, thereby creating favorable conditions for the diverse manifestations of communicable diseases. Today, infectious and parasitic diseases cause about one-third of deaths and are the second leading cause of morbidity and mortality. The speed that changes in human behavior can produce epidemics is well illustrated by AIDS, but this is only one of numerous microbial threats whose severity and spread are determined by human behaviors. In this book, forty experts in the fields of infectious diseases, the life sciences and public health explore how demography, geography, migration, travel, environmental change, natural disaster, sexual behavior, drug use, food production and distribution, medical technology, training and preparedness, as well as governance, human conflict and social dislocation influence current and likely future epidemics. Provides essential understanding of current and future epidemics Presents a crossover perspective for disciplines in the medical and social sciences and public policy, including public health, infectious diseases, population science, epidemiology, microbiology, food safety, defense preparedness and humanitarian relief Creates a new perspective on ecology based on the interaction of microbes and human activities

What You Need to Know about Infectious Disease

What You Need to Know about Infectious Disease PDF Author: Madeline Drexler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


The Influence of Global Environmental Change on Infectious Disease Dynamics

The Influence of Global Environmental Change on Infectious Disease Dynamics PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309305020
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
The twentieth century witnessed an era of unprecedented, large-scale, anthropogenic changes to the natural environment. Understanding how environmental factors directly and indirectly affect the emergence and spread of infectious disease has assumed global importance for life on this planet. While the causal links between environmental change and disease emergence are complex, progress in understanding these links, as well as how their impacts may vary across space and time, will require transdisciplinary, transnational, collaborative research. This research may draw upon the expertise, tools, and approaches from a variety of disciplines. Such research may inform improvements in global readiness and capacity for surveillance, detection, and response to emerging microbial threats to plant, animal, and human health. The Influence of Global Environmental Change on Infectious Disease Dynamics is the summary of a workshop hosted by the Institute of Medicine Forum on Microbial Threats in September 2013 to explore the scientific and policy implications of the impacts of global environmental change on infectious disease emergence, establishment, and spread. This report examines the observed and potential influence of environmental factors, acting both individually and in synergy, on infectious disease dynamics. The report considers a range of approaches to improve global readiness and capacity for surveillance, detection, and response to emerging microbial threats to plant, animal, and human health in the face of ongoing global environmental change.

Population Mobility and Infectious Disease

Population Mobility and Infectious Disease PDF Author: Yorghos Apostolopoulos
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0387497110
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
This book explores the complex roles of mobile, transient, and displaced populations in the worldwide spread of disease. While biomedical events cause disease, social forces such as poverty and marginalization magnify them by giving them opportunities to take hold. From Katrina to Darfur, and from influenza to AIDS, an expert panel of health and social scientists brings the social context of epidemics into clear focus.

Microbial Threats to Health

Microbial Threats to Health PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309185548
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
Infectious diseases are a global hazard that puts every nation and every person at risk. The recent SARS outbreak is a prime example. Knowing neither geographic nor political borders, often arriving silently and lethally, microbial pathogens constitute a grave threat to the health of humans. Indeed, a majority of countries recently identified the spread of infectious disease as the greatest global problem they confront. Throughout history, humans have struggled to control both the causes and consequences of infectious diseases and we will continue to do so into the foreseeable future. Following up on a high-profile 1992 report from the Institute of Medicine, Microbial Threats to Health examines the current state of knowledge and policy pertaining to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases from around the globe. It examines the spectrum of microbial threats, factors in disease emergence, and the ultimate capacity of the United States to meet the challenges posed by microbial threats to human health. From the impact of war or technology on disease emergence to the development of enhanced disease surveillance and vaccine strategies, Microbial Threats to Health contains valuable information for researchers, students, health care providers, policymakers, public health officials. and the interested public.

Urbanization and Slums

Urbanization and Slums PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309474426
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 149

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Book Description
The urban built environment is a prime setting for microbial transmission, because just as cities serve as hubs for migration and international travel, components of the urban built environment serve as hubs that drive the transmission of infectious disease pathogens. The risk of infectious diseases for many people living in slums is further compounded by their poverty and their surrounding physical and social environment, which is often overcrowded, is prone to physical hazards, and lacks adequate or secure housing and basic infrastructure, including water, sanitation, or hygiene services. To examine the role of the urban built environment in the emergence and reemergence of infectious diseases that affect human health, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine planned a public workshop. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Infectious Disease: A Very Short Introduction

Infectious Disease: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Marta Wayne
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191002828
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 137

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Book Description
As doctors and biologists have learned, to their dismay, infectious disease is a moving target: new diseases emerge every year, old diseases evolve into new forms, and ecological and socioeconomic upheavals change the transmission pathways by which disease spread. By taking an approach focused on the general evolutionary and ecological dynamics of disease, this Very Short Introduction provides a general conceptual framework for thinking about disease. Ecology and evolution provide the keys to answering the 'where', 'why', 'how', and 'what' questions about any particular infectious disease: where did it come from? How is it transmitted from one person to another, and why are some individuals more susceptible than others? What biochemical, ecological, and evolutionary strategies can be used to combat the disease? Is it more effective to block transmission at the population level, or to block infection at the individual level? Through a series of case studies, Benjamin Bolker and Marta L. Wayne introduce the major ideas of infectious disease in a clear and thoughtful way, emphasising the general principles of infection, the management of outbreaks, and the evolutionary and ecological approaches that are now central to much research about infectious disease. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Challenges in Infectious Diseases

Challenges in Infectious Diseases PDF Author: I.W. Fong
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461444969
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
This next volume in the series will provide up to date Information and discussion on future approach to control several challenging Infectious Disease worldwide. The past decade has been highlighted by numerous advances in research of medical scientific knowledge. medical technology and the biological and diagnostic techniques-but somewhat less dramatic changes or improvement in management of medical conditions. This volume will address some of the emerging issues, challenges, and controversies in Infectious Diseases.