Health and Disease Flashcards
health
biomedicine: the absence of disease
WHO: a state of complete social, psychological, and physical wellbeing
-it is normative, multi-faced, and situational
health is normative and situational, and multifaced
normative: defined by cultural norms
situational: dependent on specific circumstances
multifaced: not merely the absence of disease
three bodies model (Scheper-Hughes and Lock)
clarifies the ways that health is interconnected with wider social conditions and their determinants
Miyupimaatisiiun
to be alive well
-encompasses one’s whole experience of living
social determinants of health and disease
social conditions shape exposure to illness
epidemiology
the study of disease in human populations
epidemic
a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time.
pandemics
an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people
infectious disease
disease caused by pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi [which] can be spread, directly or indirectly, from one person to another
transmissibility and virulence
virulence: severity of disease caused by pathogen infection (related to pathogenicity)
transmissibility: efficacy of transmission from host to host
novel pathogens
generally introduced from reservoir species (zoonoses): livestock, wildlife
often maladapted to a new host
trade-offs: what are the adaptations and mitigating factors of transmission/virulence?
evolution selects against pathogens that kill their host before transmission adaptations to ensure transmission: - reduced virulence -long incubation periods -persistent in the environment mitigating factors -rapid transport -repeated introductions -mobile host
emergent pathogens
pathogens that are novel (SARS-CoV2), emergent (Ebola), or resurgent (polio, measles, TB)
-caused by human behaviour
factors that affect the emergence of pathogens
• Human demography and behaviour (including disease-prevent measures-i.e public health and infrastructure)
• Macro-ecological changes (global and local climate and human land use, eg. Agriculture, dams, infrastructure)
• Movements of people and goods
• Technology and industry (food, medicines, housing)
* Microbial adaptation and change (eg. Drug resistance and random processes, eg. Antigenic drift)
poverty
higher levels of exposure
less access to diagnosis and treatment options
unable to stop working
epidemiologic transitions
major changes and disease profile associated with massive shifts in technology, subsistence, and demography
first epidemiologic transition
- “neolithic”: associated with shift to dense sedentary communities, dietary and ecological shifts
- key pathogens: those that spread via close contact routes
william mcneil
the civilized pattern of disease: theory that urban ecology of poor communities are more exposed to diseases because of pollutants, stress, violence, poor nutrition etc.
second epidemiologic transition
suppression of infectious disease transmission, increase in medical efficacy
- longer lives
- industrialization
Pasteur, Koch
Germ Theory of disease
Third epidemiologic transition
re-emergence of infectious disease, drug therapy resistance and changes in environments and land use
trade and travel vs disease
pathogens that travel well are those that:
- survive outside the body
- cause chronic infection
- are sexually transmitted
“virgin soil” epidemics
triggered by contact with settlers during colonization (Australia, America, island nations)
what makes colonization different from a trade-related transmission?
- the subjugation of colonized peoples
- extraction of wealth from colonized lands
sources of evidence of diseases in the past
- historical records
- evidence from bones
- signs of anemia
- pathogen phylogenetics and DNA
