Zoonotic Disease Is Getting More Attention
Zoonoses diseases are increasingly getting the attention of the world. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention United States, for example, have recently focused their investigations on zoonotic diseases, or infectious diseases transmitted from animals to humans or vice versa.
Henry Walke as the Head of Program Coordination Office and the World Health Development and public health at the Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC) United States said Tuesday (9/3/2010), about 60 percent of new infectious diseases emerge a zoonotic disease.
He said, zoonotic diseases have increasingly become a threat, especially in large populated country, diverse, and has a diversity of wildlife, including wild animals.
A number of factors trigger disease transmission are environmental changes caused distances between human and animals shorten. Another factor is the domestication of animals, including exotic animals. As a result, diseases that was before stayed only in animals now moves to humans. A number of cases such as the occurrence of bird flu, rabies, and ebola are examples that cause serious problems and occurs in several countries.
“Most of the disease investigations by CDC lead to cases of zoonoses,” Henry said in the activities of Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication in Atlanta, Tuesday.
To control these diseases, a good public health infrastructure is needed, like surveillance devices or monitoring of disease. CDC itself provides technical assistance on request from countries. The assistance provided is usually technical assistance and expertise specific to a particular disease.
Ray Arthur, director of the Global Disease Detection Operations Center CDC says, disease detection and investigation program are more active, particularly after the emergence of SARS cases in various parts of the world. Through detection, there are more new pathogens found, at least five new pathogen in 2003 which turns to approximately 30 new pathogens until the year 2008.
Steve Monroe, director of Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases National Center for Zoonotic Vector-borne and enteric disease CDC says, a pathogen is not always entirely new. It can occur as the pathogen already exists, but not recognized. That’s because the pathogens isolated in the bodies of animals or isolated human.
“Generally, a new pathogen will be known after an increase in cases in the population,” he said.
To find new pathogens, they build a system, one of which is gathering news from thousands of media around the world. Media screening has become an early warning of disease.
If the case is considered significant, the team sent down to investigate the case. CDC has about 18 representatives around the world. In some countries they are investigating the wild polio virus, HIV, and avian influenza (H5N1).
Ray added, the challenge in dealing with diseases of global nature, among others, is the inability of the authorities at the scene to detect accurately. In addition, the leaders are also reluctant to report cases that happened to the global community.
