Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335842
- eISBN:
- 9780199868926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335842.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter examines the characteristics of infectious disease that raise special medical and social ethical issues, and explores ways of integrating both current bioethics and classical public ...
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This chapter examines the characteristics of infectious disease that raise special medical and social ethical issues, and explores ways of integrating both current bioethics and classical public health ethics concerns. Many of the ethical issues raised by infectious disease are related to these diseases' powerful ability to engender fear in individuals and panic in populations. The chapter addresses the association of some infectious diseases with high morbidity and mortality rates, the sense that infectious diseases are caused by invasion or attack on humans by foreign microorganisms, the acute onset and rapid course of many infectious diseases, and, in particular, the communicability of infectious diseases. The individual fear and community panic associated with infectious diseases often leads to rapid, emotionally driven decision-making about public health policies needed to protect the community that may be in conflict with current bioethical principles regarding the care of individual patients. The discussion includes recent examples where dialogue between public health practitioners and bioethicists has helped resolve ethical issues that require us to consider the infected patient as both a victim with individual needs and rights, and as a potential vector of disease that is of concern to the community.Less
This chapter examines the characteristics of infectious disease that raise special medical and social ethical issues, and explores ways of integrating both current bioethics and classical public health ethics concerns. Many of the ethical issues raised by infectious disease are related to these diseases' powerful ability to engender fear in individuals and panic in populations. The chapter addresses the association of some infectious diseases with high morbidity and mortality rates, the sense that infectious diseases are caused by invasion or attack on humans by foreign microorganisms, the acute onset and rapid course of many infectious diseases, and, in particular, the communicability of infectious diseases. The individual fear and community panic associated with infectious diseases often leads to rapid, emotionally driven decision-making about public health policies needed to protect the community that may be in conflict with current bioethical principles regarding the care of individual patients. The discussion includes recent examples where dialogue between public health practitioners and bioethicists has helped resolve ethical issues that require us to consider the infected patient as both a victim with individual needs and rights, and as a potential vector of disease that is of concern to the community.
Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335842
- eISBN:
- 9780199868926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335842.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter explores a thought-experiment imagining universal surveillance for all known communicable infectious disease, using rapid tests involving polymerase chain reactions and other methods ...
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This chapter explores a thought-experiment imagining universal surveillance for all known communicable infectious disease, using rapid tests involving polymerase chain reactions and other methods that require twenty minutes or less for results, at airports. Imagine: as you check in at the departures desk, you supply a cheek swab or other sample that is automatically assayed by the time you reach the gate: if you're negative you can board the plane, if positive you're referred to the airport clinic or local hospital for immediate treatment. This thought experiment raises substantial issues of privacy, confidentiality, and other constraints; yet—especially if expanded to other places of public contact—appears to promise a real reduction in the transmission of infectious disease.Less
This chapter explores a thought-experiment imagining universal surveillance for all known communicable infectious disease, using rapid tests involving polymerase chain reactions and other methods that require twenty minutes or less for results, at airports. Imagine: as you check in at the departures desk, you supply a cheek swab or other sample that is automatically assayed by the time you reach the gate: if you're negative you can board the plane, if positive you're referred to the airport clinic or local hospital for immediate treatment. This thought experiment raises substantial issues of privacy, confidentiality, and other constraints; yet—especially if expanded to other places of public contact—appears to promise a real reduction in the transmission of infectious disease.
Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335842
- eISBN:
- 9780199868926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335842.003.0021
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This concluding chapter explores the implications of the PVV view in two major areas. First, as a philosophic tool, the PVV view can be used to assess and enhance both theoretical and applied ...
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This concluding chapter explores the implications of the PVV view in two major areas. First, as a philosophic tool, the PVV view can be used to assess and enhance both theoretical and applied accounts: the examples here are principlist bioethics, as in Principles of Biomedical Ethics by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress; theorizing about capabilities, as in the work of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum; and liberal individualism. Second, the PVV view can be used as a tool in policy analysis: it can show how some historical policies have overemphasized vectorhood and underemphasized victimhood (for example, the isolation of lepers on Molokai, Hawaii; the quarantine of Chinese for plague in San Francisco; and “Typhoid Mary” and “Patient Zero”); others have overemphasized victimhood and underemphasized vectorhood (for example, the critique of the Tuskeegee syphilis experiments and the HPV immunization campaign). In some, the balance is controversial (HIV/AIDS containment in Cuba; isolation of MRSA patients in modern hospitals); and in some, it appears well-balanced (Canada's exit policy for people with active tuberculosis).Less
This concluding chapter explores the implications of the PVV view in two major areas. First, as a philosophic tool, the PVV view can be used to assess and enhance both theoretical and applied accounts: the examples here are principlist bioethics, as in Principles of Biomedical Ethics by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress; theorizing about capabilities, as in the work of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum; and liberal individualism. Second, the PVV view can be used as a tool in policy analysis: it can show how some historical policies have overemphasized vectorhood and underemphasized victimhood (for example, the isolation of lepers on Molokai, Hawaii; the quarantine of Chinese for plague in San Francisco; and “Typhoid Mary” and “Patient Zero”); others have overemphasized victimhood and underemphasized vectorhood (for example, the critique of the Tuskeegee syphilis experiments and the HPV immunization campaign). In some, the balance is controversial (HIV/AIDS containment in Cuba; isolation of MRSA patients in modern hospitals); and in some, it appears well-balanced (Canada's exit policy for people with active tuberculosis).
Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335842
- eISBN:
- 9780199868926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335842.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter begins to put the PVV view to work in the analysis of both traditional and newer ethical issues in bioethics. Here, the chapter re-examines staple issues of bioethics such as ...
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This chapter begins to put the PVV view to work in the analysis of both traditional and newer ethical issues in bioethics. Here, the chapter re-examines staple issues of bioethics such as truth-telling, informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, and end-of-life decision making in light of the importance of taking both victimhood and vectorhood into account. To take one example, refusals of patients to be told the truth that might be respected on traditional autonomy grounds look quite different if the truth at issue includes possibilities of contagion. Informed consent must include a discussion of the risks the patient potentially poses to others—as well as the risks posed by others. Using the PVV view, this chapter also takes up more novel issues about duties of physicians, such as the duty to warn, the duty to treat, and the duty to reduce levels of mistakes. Physicians who are potentially infectious themselves, for example, have a duty to consider their own roles as vectors, not solely the interests of the patient.Less
This chapter begins to put the PVV view to work in the analysis of both traditional and newer ethical issues in bioethics. Here, the chapter re-examines staple issues of bioethics such as truth-telling, informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, and end-of-life decision making in light of the importance of taking both victimhood and vectorhood into account. To take one example, refusals of patients to be told the truth that might be respected on traditional autonomy grounds look quite different if the truth at issue includes possibilities of contagion. Informed consent must include a discussion of the risks the patient potentially poses to others—as well as the risks posed by others. Using the PVV view, this chapter also takes up more novel issues about duties of physicians, such as the duty to warn, the duty to treat, and the duty to reduce levels of mistakes. Physicians who are potentially infectious themselves, for example, have a duty to consider their own roles as vectors, not solely the interests of the patient.
Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335842
- eISBN:
- 9780199868926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335842.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter uses the example of a homeless man with multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis to explore ethical conflicts that arise between the public health officers' emphasis on “control-the-vector” ...
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This chapter uses the example of a homeless man with multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis to explore ethical conflicts that arise between the public health officers' emphasis on “control-the-vector” approach to managing tuberculosis patients, which may include involuntary screening, isolation, and coerced treatment, and the concerns of autonomy-oriented traditional medical ethicists that patients' rights be respected. It suggests a synthesis of these competing values and approaches that might be implemented by a physician who cares both for the patient and for the health of the public, and who understands that the individual patient is as vulnerable to being infected by others as others are to being infected by the patient. The chapter also raises issues about care of the dying in transmissible infectious disease: in this case, the patient wants only to go home and be with his dog, but for disease-control reasons cannot be allowed to be at large. The tension is reduced with a creative solution in a way that demonstrates a simple case of recognizing that the patient is both victim and vector at one and the same time.Less
This chapter uses the example of a homeless man with multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis to explore ethical conflicts that arise between the public health officers' emphasis on “control-the-vector” approach to managing tuberculosis patients, which may include involuntary screening, isolation, and coerced treatment, and the concerns of autonomy-oriented traditional medical ethicists that patients' rights be respected. It suggests a synthesis of these competing values and approaches that might be implemented by a physician who cares both for the patient and for the health of the public, and who understands that the individual patient is as vulnerable to being infected by others as others are to being infected by the patient. The chapter also raises issues about care of the dying in transmissible infectious disease: in this case, the patient wants only to go home and be with his dog, but for disease-control reasons cannot be allowed to be at large. The tension is reduced with a creative solution in a way that demonstrates a simple case of recognizing that the patient is both victim and vector at one and the same time.
Marc Lipsitch
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199239481
- eISBN:
- 9780191716973
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239481.003.016
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
Infectious disease epidemiology courses in practice concentrate almost exclusively on communicable diseases; those transmitted from person to person. Such courses are generally taught in one of two ...
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Infectious disease epidemiology courses in practice concentrate almost exclusively on communicable diseases; those transmitted from person to person. Such courses are generally taught in one of two ways. The first approach is to define the biological basis of infectious diseases, followed by sessions on the major types of infectious disease, classified by route of transmission (airborne, close contact, vector, sexual) and/or by the major pathologic consequence or system affected (respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, oncogenic infections), and/or by the type of infectious agent involved (helminths, fungi, protozoan, bacteria, viruses, prions). A second approach is to focus on the common factors that unite infectious (more specifically, communicable) diseases, using particular diseases as examples to illustrate the principles of communicable disease epidemiology while abandoning any effort to be comprehensive in covering the major types of infectious diseases. This chapter describes how a course might be taught following the second approach, emphasizing principles and commonalities at the expense of breadth of coverage. The goal is to expose students to analytic approaches and ways of thinking about infectious diseases that will serve them well in considering any communicable disease, or, indeed, in assessing the possible infectious etiology of diseases whose causes are unknown.Less
Infectious disease epidemiology courses in practice concentrate almost exclusively on communicable diseases; those transmitted from person to person. Such courses are generally taught in one of two ways. The first approach is to define the biological basis of infectious diseases, followed by sessions on the major types of infectious disease, classified by route of transmission (airborne, close contact, vector, sexual) and/or by the major pathologic consequence or system affected (respiratory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, oncogenic infections), and/or by the type of infectious agent involved (helminths, fungi, protozoan, bacteria, viruses, prions). A second approach is to focus on the common factors that unite infectious (more specifically, communicable) diseases, using particular diseases as examples to illustrate the principles of communicable disease epidemiology while abandoning any effort to be comprehensive in covering the major types of infectious diseases. This chapter describes how a course might be taught following the second approach, emphasizing principles and commonalities at the expense of breadth of coverage. The goal is to expose students to analytic approaches and ways of thinking about infectious diseases that will serve them well in considering any communicable disease, or, indeed, in assessing the possible infectious etiology of diseases whose causes are unknown.
J.-F. Guégan, S. Morand, and R. Poulin
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198529873
- eISBN:
- 9780191712777
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198529873.003.0003
- Subject:
- Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology
This chapter reviews recent advances made by parasite community biologists in dissecting the organization of parasite communities at different spatial scales. From a broader scale at which a big ...
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This chapter reviews recent advances made by parasite community biologists in dissecting the organization of parasite communities at different spatial scales. From a broader scale at which a big picture on parasite species gradients can emerge to community assembly rules in the organization of parasite species assemblages on host, it focuses on recent findings in parasite species diversity and community patterns, which could orientate new research on the functioning of ecosystems dynamics and evolution as a whole.Less
This chapter reviews recent advances made by parasite community biologists in dissecting the organization of parasite communities at different spatial scales. From a broader scale at which a big picture on parasite species gradients can emerge to community assembly rules in the organization of parasite species assemblages on host, it focuses on recent findings in parasite species diversity and community patterns, which could orientate new research on the functioning of ecosystems dynamics and evolution as a whole.
Charles L. Nunn and Sonia Altizer
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198565857
- eISBN:
- 9780191728235
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198565857.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology
This chapter considers how understanding infectious disease in nonhuman primates provides insights to human health. In particular, it examines the origins of human infectious diseases and their ...
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This chapter considers how understanding infectious disease in nonhuman primates provides insights to human health. In particular, it examines the origins of human infectious diseases and their impacts in a historical context. More speculatively, it asks how behavioural counterstrategies to infectious disease in nonhuman primates pertain to understanding human behaviour in the context of Darwinian medicine. It also discusses the role of wild primates in the maintenance of zoonotic pathogen and disease emergence, and applies the concept of disease risk in order to investigate variation in human infections at global and regional scales.Less
This chapter considers how understanding infectious disease in nonhuman primates provides insights to human health. In particular, it examines the origins of human infectious diseases and their impacts in a historical context. More speculatively, it asks how behavioural counterstrategies to infectious disease in nonhuman primates pertain to understanding human behaviour in the context of Darwinian medicine. It also discusses the role of wild primates in the maintenance of zoonotic pathogen and disease emergence, and applies the concept of disease risk in order to investigate variation in human infections at global and regional scales.
M. Leigh Ackland, Julia Bornhorst, George V. Dedoussis, Rodney R. Dietert, Jerome O. Nriagu, Jozef M. Pacyna, and John M. Pettifor
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029193
- eISBN:
- 9780262327619
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029193.003.0017
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
By reducing immune function, trace metal deficiencies may substantially contribute to the global burden of diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria. Human activities may be contributing to trace metal ...
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By reducing immune function, trace metal deficiencies may substantially contribute to the global burden of diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria. Human activities may be contributing to trace metal deficiency in soils and plants by exacerbating the preponderance of cereals and cash crops that reduce food diversity and micronutrient intake. Adaptive strategies are needed to reverse these trends. Anthropogenic activities have led to increased toxic metal exposure, and effects on human hosts need clarification. Metal toxicities can also impair the immune system and hence increase the susceptibility to infectious pathogens. Climate change affects metal speciation and the build-up of trace elements in the human food chain, with as yet unknown outcomes on infectious disease. Food processing and the use of metallic nanomaterials can alter human exposure to metals in ways that can influence the host–pathogen competition for metals. The effects of metals on human health may also be mediated through modification of the epigenome, conferring drug resistance on pathogenic bacteria and enhancing/ reducing human tolerance to infectious parasites. The emerging metals cerium, gadolinium, lanthanum, and yttrium constitute another driver of change in metal exposure and may potentially modulate the immune system with unknown consequences for human health.Less
By reducing immune function, trace metal deficiencies may substantially contribute to the global burden of diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria. Human activities may be contributing to trace metal deficiency in soils and plants by exacerbating the preponderance of cereals and cash crops that reduce food diversity and micronutrient intake. Adaptive strategies are needed to reverse these trends. Anthropogenic activities have led to increased toxic metal exposure, and effects on human hosts need clarification. Metal toxicities can also impair the immune system and hence increase the susceptibility to infectious pathogens. Climate change affects metal speciation and the build-up of trace elements in the human food chain, with as yet unknown outcomes on infectious disease. Food processing and the use of metallic nanomaterials can alter human exposure to metals in ways that can influence the host–pathogen competition for metals. The effects of metals on human health may also be mediated through modification of the epigenome, conferring drug resistance on pathogenic bacteria and enhancing/ reducing human tolerance to infectious parasites. The emerging metals cerium, gadolinium, lanthanum, and yttrium constitute another driver of change in metal exposure and may potentially modulate the immune system with unknown consequences for human health.
William R. Clark
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195336634
- eISBN:
- 9780199868568
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195336634.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology
The immune system is the only thing standing between us and a world of microbial predators that could send us to an early and ugly death. It would be our only defense during the first hours of a ...
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The immune system is the only thing standing between us and a world of microbial predators that could send us to an early and ugly death. It would be our only defense during the first hours of a bioterrorist attack using some of these very microbes. Evolved over millions of years of to keep us alive long enough to reproduce, the immune system has developed an impressive armamentarium of powerful chemical and cellular weapons that make short work of hostile viruses and bacteria. It has also evolved amazing genetic strategies to keep pace with invading microbes that can reproduce — and thus alter their genetic blueprint — in under an hour. But this same system prevents us from accepting life-saving organ transplants. It is also capable of over-reacting, leading to immunopathologies and causing serious, even lethal, damage to our tissues and organs. Worse yet, our immune systems may decide we ourselves are foreign and attack otherwise healthy tissues, resulting in autoimmune disease. And finally, it is itself the target of one of the most deadly viruses humans have ever known: HIV, the agent of AIDS. Part I of this book describes the structure and function of the immune system at a biological and biochemical level. Part II examines the role of the immune system in a range of human diseases — many caused by the immune system itself.Less
The immune system is the only thing standing between us and a world of microbial predators that could send us to an early and ugly death. It would be our only defense during the first hours of a bioterrorist attack using some of these very microbes. Evolved over millions of years of to keep us alive long enough to reproduce, the immune system has developed an impressive armamentarium of powerful chemical and cellular weapons that make short work of hostile viruses and bacteria. It has also evolved amazing genetic strategies to keep pace with invading microbes that can reproduce — and thus alter their genetic blueprint — in under an hour. But this same system prevents us from accepting life-saving organ transplants. It is also capable of over-reacting, leading to immunopathologies and causing serious, even lethal, damage to our tissues and organs. Worse yet, our immune systems may decide we ourselves are foreign and attack otherwise healthy tissues, resulting in autoimmune disease. And finally, it is itself the target of one of the most deadly viruses humans have ever known: HIV, the agent of AIDS. Part I of this book describes the structure and function of the immune system at a biological and biochemical level. Part II examines the role of the immune system in a range of human diseases — many caused by the immune system itself.
Rosie Woodroffe, Sarah Cleaveland, Orin Courtenay, M. Karen Laurenson, and Marc Artois
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198515562
- eISBN:
- 9780191705632
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198515562.003.0006
- Subject:
- Biology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
This chapter examines the role of infectious disease in the conservation of wild canids. Canid diseases cause concern for two reasons. First, widespread species such as red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and ...
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This chapter examines the role of infectious disease in the conservation of wild canids. Canid diseases cause concern for two reasons. First, widespread species such as red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and coyotes (Canis latrans) may carry infections such as rabies, leishmaniasis, and hydatid disease that can be transmitted to people and livestock. Second, populations of threatened canids such as Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis), African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), and island foxes (Urocyon littoralis) may be at risk of extinction through the effects of virulent infections such as rabies and canine distemper, sometimes needing management to protect them from infection.Less
This chapter examines the role of infectious disease in the conservation of wild canids. Canid diseases cause concern for two reasons. First, widespread species such as red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and coyotes (Canis latrans) may carry infections such as rabies, leishmaniasis, and hydatid disease that can be transmitted to people and livestock. Second, populations of threatened canids such as Ethiopian wolves (Canis simensis), African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), and island foxes (Urocyon littoralis) may be at risk of extinction through the effects of virulent infections such as rabies and canine distemper, sometimes needing management to protect them from infection.
Charles L. Nunn and Sonia Altizer
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198565857
- eISBN:
- 9780191728235
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198565857.003.0007
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology
This chapter investigates the role of infectious diseases in primate conservation. It focuses on two issues central to the conservation of primates: anthropogenic effects on disease risk in wild ...
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This chapter investigates the role of infectious diseases in primate conservation. It focuses on two issues central to the conservation of primates: anthropogenic effects on disease risk in wild populations, including the emergence of new diseases, and the importance of considering parasites when planning conservation efforts. It begins by considering the direct effects of parasites on host population declines, focusing on emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) and impacts of humans on disease risk in wildlife. It then discusses how conservation efforts can become more effective by taking into account risks from infectious disease. Given the numerous examples of pathogen-driven wildlife declines, a need exists for wildlife managers to quantify parasite occurrence in primates to obtain baseline knowledge on the parasites that are present, to gain an understanding of transmission modes and impacts on individual hosts, and to identify potential ‘reservoirs’ of infection in other hosts that might cross-infect primates. The last section shifts gears by considering the potential role of parasites in promoting biodiversity.Less
This chapter investigates the role of infectious diseases in primate conservation. It focuses on two issues central to the conservation of primates: anthropogenic effects on disease risk in wild populations, including the emergence of new diseases, and the importance of considering parasites when planning conservation efforts. It begins by considering the direct effects of parasites on host population declines, focusing on emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) and impacts of humans on disease risk in wildlife. It then discusses how conservation efforts can become more effective by taking into account risks from infectious disease. Given the numerous examples of pathogen-driven wildlife declines, a need exists for wildlife managers to quantify parasite occurrence in primates to obtain baseline knowledge on the parasites that are present, to gain an understanding of transmission modes and impacts on individual hosts, and to identify potential ‘reservoirs’ of infection in other hosts that might cross-infect primates. The last section shifts gears by considering the potential role of parasites in promoting biodiversity.
Charles Nunn and Sonia Altizer
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198565857
- eISBN:
- 9780191728235
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198565857.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology
Recent progress in the field of wildlife disease ecology demonstrates that infectious disease plays a crucial role in the lives of wild animals. Parasites and pathogens should be especially important ...
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Recent progress in the field of wildlife disease ecology demonstrates that infectious disease plays a crucial role in the lives of wild animals. Parasites and pathogens should be especially important for social animals in which high contact among individuals increases the potential for disease spread. As one of the best studied mammalian groups, primates offer a unique opportunity to examine how complex behaviours (including social organization) influence the risk of acquiring infectious diseases, and the defences used by animals to avoid infection. This book explores the correlates of disease risk in primates, including not only social and mating behaviour but also diet, habitat use, life history, geography and phylogeny. The authors examine how a core set of host and parasite traits influence patterns of parasitism at three levels of biological organization: among individuals, among populations, and across species. A major goal is to synthesize, for the first time, four disparate areas of research: primate behavioural ecology, parasite biology, wildlife epidemiology, and the behavioural and immune defences employed by animals to counter infectious disease. Throughout, the authors provide an overview of the remarkable diversity of infectious agents found in wild primate populations. Additional chapters consider how knowledge of infectious diseases in wild primates can inform efforts focused on primate conservation and human health. More generally, this book identifies infectious disease as an important frontier in our understanding of primate behaviour and ecology. It highlights future challenges for testing the links between host and parasite traits, including hypotheses for the effects of disease on primate social and mating systems.Less
Recent progress in the field of wildlife disease ecology demonstrates that infectious disease plays a crucial role in the lives of wild animals. Parasites and pathogens should be especially important for social animals in which high contact among individuals increases the potential for disease spread. As one of the best studied mammalian groups, primates offer a unique opportunity to examine how complex behaviours (including social organization) influence the risk of acquiring infectious diseases, and the defences used by animals to avoid infection. This book explores the correlates of disease risk in primates, including not only social and mating behaviour but also diet, habitat use, life history, geography and phylogeny. The authors examine how a core set of host and parasite traits influence patterns of parasitism at three levels of biological organization: among individuals, among populations, and across species. A major goal is to synthesize, for the first time, four disparate areas of research: primate behavioural ecology, parasite biology, wildlife epidemiology, and the behavioural and immune defences employed by animals to counter infectious disease. Throughout, the authors provide an overview of the remarkable diversity of infectious agents found in wild primate populations. Additional chapters consider how knowledge of infectious diseases in wild primates can inform efforts focused on primate conservation and human health. More generally, this book identifies infectious disease as an important frontier in our understanding of primate behaviour and ecology. It highlights future challenges for testing the links between host and parasite traits, including hypotheses for the effects of disease on primate social and mating systems.
Lance Saker, Kelley Lee, and Barbara Cannito
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195172997
- eISBN:
- 9780199865659
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195172997.003.0002
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health, Epidemiology
This chapter explores the links between globalization and infectious diseases in relation to changes in four major spheres—economic, environmental, political and demographic, and technological. It ...
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This chapter explores the links between globalization and infectious diseases in relation to changes in four major spheres—economic, environmental, political and demographic, and technological. It highlights areas where the evidence suggests that processes of globalization have led to changes in the distribution, transmission rate, and, in some cases, management of infectious diseases.Less
This chapter explores the links between globalization and infectious diseases in relation to changes in four major spheres—economic, environmental, political and demographic, and technological. It highlights areas where the evidence suggests that processes of globalization have led to changes in the distribution, transmission rate, and, in some cases, management of infectious diseases.
Chris A. Van Beneden and Ruth Lynfield
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195372922
- eISBN:
- 9780199866090
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195372922.003.0011
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
This chapter describes the application of specific principles to the practice of surveillance of infectious diseases. It describes how both well-established and novel aspects of infectious pathogens ...
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This chapter describes the application of specific principles to the practice of surveillance of infectious diseases. It describes how both well-established and novel aspects of infectious pathogens make surveillance challenging and important. It describes the impact of changes in human contact with pathogens have resulting from human intrusion into uninhabited environments, increasing and rapid global travel, and international food trade. It argues for better integration of public health surveillance systems across the globe using standardized case definitions, careful data integration, well-established communication pathways, and systems that capture both animal reservoirs and vectors of human infections.Less
This chapter describes the application of specific principles to the practice of surveillance of infectious diseases. It describes how both well-established and novel aspects of infectious pathogens make surveillance challenging and important. It describes the impact of changes in human contact with pathogens have resulting from human intrusion into uninhabited environments, increasing and rapid global travel, and international food trade. It argues for better integration of public health surveillance systems across the globe using standardized case definitions, careful data integration, well-established communication pathways, and systems that capture both animal reservoirs and vectors of human infections.
Jerome O. Nriagu and Eric P. Skaar (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029193
- eISBN:
- 9780262327619
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029193.001.0001
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
Many parts of the world endemic for the most common infectious diseases have the highest prevalence rates of trace metal deficiencies and increasing rates of trace metal pollution. The co-clustering ...
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Many parts of the world endemic for the most common infectious diseases have the highest prevalence rates of trace metal deficiencies and increasing rates of trace metal pollution. The co-clustering of major infectious diseases with trace metal deficiency or toxicity has created a complex web of interactions with serious but poorly understood health repercussions. Infectious diseases can increase human susceptibility to adverse effects of metal exposure while metal excess or deficiency can increase the incidence or severity of infectious diseases. The combined effects of exposure to metals and pathogens on the burden of disease and the mechanisms of interactions between trace metals, pathogens, and the environment have largely been overlooked in animal and human studies. Drawing on expertise from several fields, this book focuses on the distribution, trafficking, fate, and effects of trace metals in biological systems, with the goal of enhancing our understanding of the relationships between homeostatic mechanisms of trace metals and the pathogenesis of infectious diseases. It provides a comprehensive review of current knowledge on vertebrate metal-withholding mechanisms and the strategies employed by different microbes to compete for metals to avoid starvation (or poisoning). State-of-the-art analytical techniques available to investigate pathogen-metal interactions are summarized and open questions highlighted to guide future research. Improving knowledge in these areas will be instrumental to the generation of novel therapeutic countermeasures against infectious diseases.Less
Many parts of the world endemic for the most common infectious diseases have the highest prevalence rates of trace metal deficiencies and increasing rates of trace metal pollution. The co-clustering of major infectious diseases with trace metal deficiency or toxicity has created a complex web of interactions with serious but poorly understood health repercussions. Infectious diseases can increase human susceptibility to adverse effects of metal exposure while metal excess or deficiency can increase the incidence or severity of infectious diseases. The combined effects of exposure to metals and pathogens on the burden of disease and the mechanisms of interactions between trace metals, pathogens, and the environment have largely been overlooked in animal and human studies. Drawing on expertise from several fields, this book focuses on the distribution, trafficking, fate, and effects of trace metals in biological systems, with the goal of enhancing our understanding of the relationships between homeostatic mechanisms of trace metals and the pathogenesis of infectious diseases. It provides a comprehensive review of current knowledge on vertebrate metal-withholding mechanisms and the strategies employed by different microbes to compete for metals to avoid starvation (or poisoning). State-of-the-art analytical techniques available to investigate pathogen-metal interactions are summarized and open questions highlighted to guide future research. Improving knowledge in these areas will be instrumental to the generation of novel therapeutic countermeasures against infectious diseases.
Valerie Isham
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198566540
- eISBN:
- 9780191718038
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198566540.003.0002
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Probability / Statistics
This chapter provides an overview of stochastic models for epidemics, focusing on topics that have preoccupied researchers for the last 15 years, and identifying continuing challenges. After some ...
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This chapter provides an overview of stochastic models for epidemics, focusing on topics that have preoccupied researchers for the last 15 years, and identifying continuing challenges. After some historical background and a brief account of basic deterministic models for transmission of infectious diseases, the principles of stochastic modeling of epidemics in homogeneous populations are outlined. The chapter then discusses the complications that arise owing to heterogeneity of host population, of mixing within the population, and of the network among the population, due for example to its social or spatial structure. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of statistical issues.Less
This chapter provides an overview of stochastic models for epidemics, focusing on topics that have preoccupied researchers for the last 15 years, and identifying continuing challenges. After some historical background and a brief account of basic deterministic models for transmission of infectious diseases, the principles of stochastic modeling of epidemics in homogeneous populations are outlined. The chapter then discusses the complications that arise owing to heterogeneity of host population, of mixing within the population, and of the network among the population, due for example to its social or spatial structure. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of statistical issues.
Anne Hardy
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198203773
- eISBN:
- 9780191675966
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203773.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease, although this was not accepted in England until the end of the nineteenth century. Like typhus, its incidence is closely related to environment and domestic ...
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Tuberculosis is an infectious disease, although this was not accepted in England until the end of the nineteenth century. Like typhus, its incidence is closely related to environment and domestic habit; like typhus, it too declined during this century, but this decline was far less dramatic, and in all its forms tuberculosis was still the leading killer, after heart disease, in 1900. In the decline of tuberculosis, however, may lie the clue to the nineteenth-century mortality decline, and the heart of a puzzle that has fascinated many historians. It was identified by Thomas McKeown as the central feature of the mortality decline and, because McKeown considered the decline of tuberculosis to have begun before the effect of the nineteenth-century sanitary reform movement began to be felt, as a prime indicator that the general mortality decline was initiated by rising standards of living.Less
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease, although this was not accepted in England until the end of the nineteenth century. Like typhus, its incidence is closely related to environment and domestic habit; like typhus, it too declined during this century, but this decline was far less dramatic, and in all its forms tuberculosis was still the leading killer, after heart disease, in 1900. In the decline of tuberculosis, however, may lie the clue to the nineteenth-century mortality decline, and the heart of a puzzle that has fascinated many historians. It was identified by Thomas McKeown as the central feature of the mortality decline and, because McKeown considered the decline of tuberculosis to have begun before the effect of the nineteenth-century sanitary reform movement began to be felt, as a prime indicator that the general mortality decline was initiated by rising standards of living.
Richard S. Ostfeld, Matthew Thomas, and Felicia Keesing
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199547951
- eISBN:
- 9780191720345
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547951.003.0015
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology, Biodiversity / Conservation Biology
The effects of variation in biodiversity on transmission and risk of infectious disease have been conspicuously absent from the biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) debates. This chapter addresses ...
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The effects of variation in biodiversity on transmission and risk of infectious disease have been conspicuously absent from the biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) debates. This chapter addresses several key issues in the BEF literature as they pertain to infectious diseases, including: (1) the shape of the association between biodiversity and disease risk; (2) the relative importance of species richness versus species composition; (3) the relative importance of species richness versus diversity of functional groups or relevant life-history traits; (4) how natural sequences of species loss under environmental change (community disassembly) vs random sequences imposed experimentally influence disease risk; and (5) the importance of diversity at organizational levels other than (host) species in influencing disease risk. In a world where biodiversity is changing dramatically and infectious diseases are emerging and resurging, understanding the role of biodiversity in the ecology of diseases is arguably one of the most important areas in BEF research.Less
The effects of variation in biodiversity on transmission and risk of infectious disease have been conspicuously absent from the biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) debates. This chapter addresses several key issues in the BEF literature as they pertain to infectious diseases, including: (1) the shape of the association between biodiversity and disease risk; (2) the relative importance of species richness versus species composition; (3) the relative importance of species richness versus diversity of functional groups or relevant life-history traits; (4) how natural sequences of species loss under environmental change (community disassembly) vs random sequences imposed experimentally influence disease risk; and (5) the importance of diversity at organizational levels other than (host) species in influencing disease risk. In a world where biodiversity is changing dramatically and infectious diseases are emerging and resurging, understanding the role of biodiversity in the ecology of diseases is arguably one of the most important areas in BEF research.
David Stuckler, Karen Siegel, Kathleen O’Connor Duffany, Sandeep Kishore, Denise Stevens, and Sanjay Basu
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199574407
- eISBN:
- 9780191731204
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199574407.003.0057
- Subject:
- Public Health and Epidemiology, Public Health
This chapter is organized into two parts. Part I shows how healthcare systems — set up in a period when infectious diseases were dominant — have locked in a focus on treating acute-care episodes. It ...
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This chapter is organized into two parts. Part I shows how healthcare systems — set up in a period when infectious diseases were dominant — have locked in a focus on treating acute-care episodes. It further demonstrates how global health has come to focus a narrow set of low-cost, magic-bullet solutions, based on historical successes in eradicating smallpox. It argues that these healthcare systems and this smallpox paradigm are inappropriate for caring for people who have chronic, long-term illnesses, and reveals an alternative model of ‘liberatory medicine’ based on chronic care models that could improve patients' outcomes at lower cost. Part II reveals that public health initiatives have been skewed towards medical interventions rather than preventative approaches. This has manifested itself in major gaps in the research base for understanding how chronic diseases can be prevented at low cost. Nevertheless, it is argued that, despite gaps in the evidence base, there are a clear set of proven strategies to reduce the suffering and occurrence of chronic diseases in an entire population.Less
This chapter is organized into two parts. Part I shows how healthcare systems — set up in a period when infectious diseases were dominant — have locked in a focus on treating acute-care episodes. It further demonstrates how global health has come to focus a narrow set of low-cost, magic-bullet solutions, based on historical successes in eradicating smallpox. It argues that these healthcare systems and this smallpox paradigm are inappropriate for caring for people who have chronic, long-term illnesses, and reveals an alternative model of ‘liberatory medicine’ based on chronic care models that could improve patients' outcomes at lower cost. Part II reveals that public health initiatives have been skewed towards medical interventions rather than preventative approaches. This has manifested itself in major gaps in the research base for understanding how chronic diseases can be prevented at low cost. Nevertheless, it is argued that, despite gaps in the evidence base, there are a clear set of proven strategies to reduce the suffering and occurrence of chronic diseases in an entire population.
