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A New Disease Shakes the World: SARS Mosquito Nets Saving Lives An Ounce of Prevention... Medical Insurance to the Rescue |
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Humans have fought infectious diseases since time immemorial. The battle is now entering a new phase, though, as viruses and bacteria travel the globe at ever faster speeds and new diseases come on the scene. Can humans win out against these threats? |
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A New Disease Shakes the World: SARS |
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In the winter of 2002, the world watched nervously as a previously unknown disease spread through China with alarming speed. It is now known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or, more commonly, SARS. Research by the World Health Organization (WHO) and scientists at other institutions around the world led to the conclusion that SARS was a form of pneumonia caused by a new variant of coronavirus. A quick response to the disease prevented an epidemic-scale outbreak, but the experience served as a powerful reminder of the grave threat that infectious diseases pose to humans. Infectious diseases come in many varieties, but they can be divided into four main types: bacterial diseases such as plague and cholera, viral diseases such as AIDS and influenza, parasitic or protozoan diseases such as malaria, and fungal diseases such as athlete’s foot. Although some infectious diseases are relatively harmless, some can be lethal without immediate medical care. Pandemics, outbreaks of diseases that spread across the world, killing millions before subsiding, can be seen throughout history. One of the best-known examples is the Spanish flu, a pandemic influenza outbreak that ripped around the globe in the early 20th century. About 600 million people were infected, and between 20 to 40 million are said to have died. Although history books give more attention to World War I, which occurred at the same time, the Spanish flu actually claimed far more lives. |
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Globalization of Diseases |
| In today’s world, the chances of an influenza or plague pandemic are relatively small. We are protected by improvements in medicine, hygiene, and nutrition, all of which are far better than they were generations ago. But new threats have appeared as well. One is the speed at which diseases now spread. It took the Spanish flu 10 months to fan out over the globe, but today it might reach just as far in a scant four days. The factors behind this are the multitudes of people using the modern transportation infrastructure, the access this infrastructure offers to anywhere on the planet, and the increase in world population in general and the population density in urban centers in particular. Another danger is that new diseases have sprouted at an alarming rate over the past several decades. In addition to SARS, these include BSE (“mad cow” disease, thought to be caused by variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease), West Nile virus, and avian influenza. With viruses, rapid mutations can lead to even stronger lethality, and diseases that once affected only animals can make the jump to humans as well. |
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An Ancient Killer: Malaria | |||
| Although the present is rife with new dangers, ancient diseases still wreak havoc on human populations too. Perhaps the most typical of these is malaria. Malaria is a febrile disease that causes profuse sweating, chills, and fever. Humans are infected when bitten by mosquitoes carrying the parasitic protozoan that is the disease pathogen. Currently, more than 250 million people around the globe have been infected, over 100 million have come down with the disease, and another 2.1 billion are said to be in danger from the disease. Malaria claims 1 to 2 million lives a year, half of them children. Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.’s Olyset® net is currently garnering attention for the hope it offers in the war against malaria. The key difference between Olyset® net and conventional surface treated netting is that Olyset® net fibers are pre-mixed with insecticide, which has proven to remain effective for at least five years. Mosquito nets of this type are called “long-lasting insecticidal nets” (LLINs), but Sumitomo Chemical is the only manufacturer of this class of net whose production technology has been officially recognized by the WHO. Sleeping under mosquito nets to prevent malaria is a well-known strategy in parts of Asia and Africa, but traditional bed nets do not offer a truly effective prevention against the disease. As Takaaki Itoh, manager of the Marketing Department in the International Environmental Health Division at Sumitomo Chemical, points out: “Traditional bed netting is effective enough to reduce 100 mosquito bites down to about 10. But if even one of those 10 mosquitoes were a carrier of malaria , its victim would be infected. With Olyset® net, mosquitoes have to pass through the fiber pre-mixed with insecticide to get to the person inside, so the number of mosquitoes getting in or out is effectively zero.” |
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