Emerging Diseases Flashcards
What is case fatality rate?
If you get sick, how likely are you to die
What is an emergin infectious disease?
Newly appeared in a pop or that have existed and are rapidly increasing in incidience
6 factors contributing to disease emergence?
Environmental changes
Human demopgraphics/behavior
International travel and commerce
Technology and industry
Microbial adaptation and change
Breakdown in public health measures
What are some environmental changes?
Habitat destruction forcing pops to cluster - allows spread
Agriculture expansion into ecosytems
Climate change
WHat is the nipah virus a good example of?
“density-dependent” pathogen requiring “threshol” density of susceptible individuals to persist within a population
What are the most potent factors driving disease emergence?
Human activities
What is contact rate?
How we mix ppl and animals - likelihood of contact occuring
Tough to quantify
What does prions stand for?
Proteinaceous infectious particles
How do infectious prions work?
Fold into different shape
Shape change increaes stability
Infectious prion converts normal prions to infectious
Infectious prions bind togeth to form microscopic fibers
Prion Fibers accumulate in nerve cells in brain
Causes for loss brain activity
3 theories of origin of BSE
Scrapie-like agent from sheep
Spontaneous genetic mutation of the PRP gene of cattle
Originated from another mammalian species with a TSE
What is incubation period of BSE and what might this affect?
Long incubation period
May not see direct results of changes made to reduce BSE for 6-7 yrs
Two main way BSE is transported from country to country?
Transport of infected cow
Import of infected MBM
Where did the 2003 BSE in canada come from?
Imported cows from UK
