The Social Determinants of Emergent Diseases

Questions: 1. Why is this disease described as being emergent? Is it a new disease (when discovered?) or has it re-emerged? What are the possible reasons for why this might have happened? 2. Which populations of people are most at risk from this disease? 3. Describe the main practices and/or social determinants that increase the disease risk of this population? 4. Critically discuss how the media articles address or frame the social determinants of this disease. 5. What has been the global response to the disease? What appears to motivate this response? Answers: 1. Zika Virus disease is a type of disease caused by the Aedes mosquitoes by transmission of the virus. This is an emergent disease as there has been a recent outbreak of the disease in Brazil and French Polynesia in the years 2015 and 2013 respectively. This disease has re-emerged as it was identified for the first time in 1947 in Uganda in the rhesus monkeys by monitoring a yellow fever network. There was a subsequent re-identification of the virus in the year 1952 in the humans in Tanzania and Uganda. This might have happened due to the autoimmune and neurological complications that were observed in Brazil through fetal malformations and Guillain-Barre syndrome (World Health Organization, 2016). 2. The population residing in the areas of Southeast Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands and Brazil are the most affected by Zika virus transmission. This virus is affecting the population of many territories and countries as outbreaks are occurring (Musso, Nilles and Cao Lormeau 2014). The Zika virus infection commonly occurs among the population dwelling in the tropical areas that have large and open water bodies, no proper protection from mosquito bites, unhygienic residential areas and lower status of public health. Poverty and lack of proper knowledge is prime cause of its widespread. 3. The spread of Zika virus is mostly observed in the countries of Uganda and Brazil, which are mostly hit by poverty. The main practices and social determinants do not provide them with protection against the mosquitoes. Therefore, the Aedes mosquitoes that are mostly responsible for the disease attacks the pregnant woman residing in these places throughout the day and increases the risk of disease in these populations. These populations mostly reside on the plains and the low land levels. Aedes mosquitoes do not go above an altitude of 2,000 metres. Therefore, the mosquitoes affect these low land dwellers and make them susceptible to the disease (Barreto et al. 2016) (Bowater, 2016 Appendix 3). Zika virus also gets transmitted sexually and contaminated blood. Due to inappropriate development of these underdeveloped countries, proper measures of protection in unavailable. This also increases the risk of transmission of the disease, as the population is not aware of the potential risk factors of the disease. Social determinants of health have to effective in those regions to prevent the occurrence of the disease (Perkins et al. 2016) (Victoriaadvocate.com 2016 Appendix 5). 4. Media articles have been very much active about framing the social determinants of this disease. According to a media article published by WHO, a detailed report was presented regarding the spread of infection by Aedes mosquitoes and other methods of transmission of the disease like sexual, perinatal and blood transfusion was discussed. These transfusion methods are largely influenced by the social determinants and the possible prevention methods have been presented. An article published by BBC described Zika virus as pandemic progress and has advised the women in the affected population to postpone the program of getting pregnant. Since there is no specific treatment available for Zika virus prevention, therefore the patients have been advised to drink enough fluids and take proper rest (Petersen et al. 2016) (BBC News 2016 Appendix 2). ABC news network has suggested that a species of Aedes mosquito named Aedes aegypti is found in Australia that can progressively cause dengue fever in the areas of North Queensland. The climate of north Queensland is topical that has a resemblance to the areas where Zika virus is dominant. Therefore, chances of the arrival of the disease exist in that region via different methods (Focosi, Maggi and Pistello 2016) (ABC News 2016 Appendix 1). 5. There has been an immense response to the Zika virus globally. There has been a joint operations plan and strategic response framework initiated by WHO as a response plan to this global emergency. Red Cross Society also launched a global appeal in response to the global threat of Zika virus. CDC Foundation also contributed towards the outbreak of Zika virus as it activated response funds to mitigate this global disease (Marrs et al. 2016) (CDC Foundation 2016 Appendix 4). The motivation for this response is the major outbreak of the disease that affected millions of people. The contagious nature of the disease has been another reason to declare it as a global emergency. The close association of Zika virus with microcephaly has made it a reason of great concern, especially for the pregnant women. The widespread of this disease is difficult to control and therefore, great care has been taken by the countries not affected by the disease to prevent the infection. References Barreto, M.L., Barral-Netto, M., Stabeli, R., Almeida-Filho, N., Vasconcelos, P.F., Teixeira, M., Buss, P. and Gadelha, P.E., 2016. Zika virus and microcephaly in Brazil: a scientific agenda.The Lancet,387(10022), pp.919-921. Focosi, D., Maggi, F. and Pistello, M., 2016. Zika Virus: Implications for Public Health.Clinical Infectious Diseases, p.ciw210. Marrs, C., Olson, G., Saade, G., Hankins, G., Wen, T., Patel, J. and Weaver, S., 2016. Zika virus and pregnancy: a review of the literature and clinical considerations.American journal of perinatology. Musso, D., Nilles, E.J. and Cao Lormeau, V.M., 2014. Rapid spread of emerging Zika virus in the Pacific area.Clinical Microbiology and Infection,20(10), pp.O595-O596. Perkins, A., Siraj, A., Ruktanonchai, C.W., Kraemer, M. and Tatem, A., 2016. Model-based projections of Zika virus infections in childbearing women in the Americas.bioRxiv, p.039610. Petersen, L.R., Jamieson, D.J., Powers, A.M. and Honein, M.A., 2016. Zika virus.New England Journal of Medicine,374(16), pp.1552-1563.