Today's Headlines - 22 July 2023
Climate change aiding spread of CCHF virus
GS Paper - 3 (Health and Diseases)
As Europe reels under a heatwave and wildfires, the rising temperatures have also raised fears of spread of viruses generally not found in colder climates. Alert has been sounded about the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), an infection spread by ticks that has a high fatality rate, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The CCHF is endemic to Africa, the Balkan countries, Middle East, and parts of Asia.
What is CCHF?
According to the WHO, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a viral haemorrhagic fever usually transmitted by ticks. It can also be contracted through contact with viraemic animal tissues (animal tissue where the virus has entered the bloodstream) during and immediately post-slaughter of animals.
CCHF outbreaks constitute a threat to public health services as the virus can lead to epidemics, has a high case fatality ratio (10–40%), potentially results in hospital and health facility outbreaks, and is difficult to prevent and treat.”
The virus is present in the tick family of insects. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), animals such as cattle, goats, sheep and hares serve as amplifying hosts for the virus. Transmission to humans occurs through contact with infected ticks or animal blood.
CCHF can be transmitted from one infected human to another by contact with infectious blood or body fluids”, such as sweat and saliva. The ticks can also be hosted by migratory birds, thus carrying the virus over long distances.
While the disease was first detected among soldiers in the Crimean Peninsula (near the Black Sea) in 1944, in 1969, it was found that an ailment identified in the Congo Basin was caused by the same pathogen. Thus, the disease was named the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.
What are the symptoms, cure of CCHF?
CCHF symptoms include fever, muscle ache, dizziness, neck pain, backache, headache, sore eyes and sensitivity to light, according to the WHO.
There may be nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and sore throat early on, followed by sharp mood swings and confusion. After 2–4 days the agitation may be replaced by sleepiness, depression and lassitude.
There is no vaccine for the virus in either humans or animals, and treatment generally consists of managing symptoms.
According to the WHO, the antiviral drug ribavirin has been used to treat CCHF infection with apparent benefit.
#upsc #news #climatechange #CCHF #heatwave #temperature #viruses #haemorrhagic #WHO #endemic #africa #viraemic #tissue #health #CDC #disease #soldiers #infection
Climate change aiding spread of CCHF virus
GS Paper - 3 (Health and Diseases)
As Europe reels under a heatwave and wildfires, the rising temperatures have also raised fears of spread of viruses generally not found in colder climates. Alert has been sounded about the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), an infection spread by ticks that has a high fatality rate, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The CCHF is endemic to Africa, the Balkan countries, Middle East, and parts of Asia.
What is CCHF?
According to the WHO, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a viral haemorrhagic fever usually transmitted by ticks. It can also be contracted through contact with viraemic animal tissues (animal tissue where the virus has entered the bloodstream) during and immediately post-slaughter of animals.
CCHF outbreaks constitute a threat to public health services as the virus can lead to epidemics, has a high case fatality ratio (10–40%), potentially results in hospital and health facility outbreaks, and is difficult to prevent and treat.”
The virus is present in the tick family of insects. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), animals such as cattle, goats, sheep and hares serve as amplifying hosts for the virus. Transmission to humans occurs through contact with infected ticks or animal blood.
CCHF can be transmitted from one infected human to another by contact with infectious blood or body fluids”, such as sweat and saliva. The ticks can also be hosted by migratory birds, thus carrying the virus over long distances.
While the disease was first detected among soldiers in the Crimean Peninsula (near the Black Sea) in 1944, in 1969, it was found that an ailment identified in the Congo Basin was caused by the same pathogen. Thus, the disease was named the Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever.
What are the symptoms, cure of CCHF?
CCHF symptoms include fever, muscle ache, dizziness, neck pain, backache, headache, sore eyes and sensitivity to light, according to the WHO.
There may be nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and sore throat early on, followed by sharp mood swings and confusion. After 2–4 days the agitation may be replaced by sleepiness, depression and lassitude.
There is no vaccine for the virus in either humans or animals, and treatment generally consists of managing symptoms.
According to the WHO, the antiviral drug ribavirin has been used to treat CCHF infection with apparent benefit.
#upsc #news #climatechange #CCHF #heatwave #temperature #viruses #haemorrhagic #WHO #endemic #africa #viraemic #tissue #health #CDC #disease #soldiers #infection
What does the study show?
The new analysis focuses on the environmental dissemination of ARGs. With every 1% rise in PM2.5 pollution, antibiotic resistance increased between 0.5-1.9% depending on the pathogen — a link which has only intensified with time.
The researchers added that this airborne spread may have also caused premature deaths in India and China, among other countries in South Asia, North Africa and the Middle East which are population dense.
An average of 18.2 million years of life was lost in 2018 worldwide, resulting in an annual economic loss of $395 billion (more than Pakistan’s GDP) due to premature deaths.
The paper is unique in its scale and scope: global antibiotic resistance is driven by multiple factors, one being the “effect derived from the environment, which is poorly understood in relation to antibiotic resistance”.
The researchers collected data from 116 countries spanning almost two decades, to observe the link between rising PM2.5 and antibiotic resistance. The researchers also analysed other predictors, including sanitation services, antibiotic use, population, education, climate.
How is air linked to antibiotic resistance?
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes travel through different pathways: food, soil, water, air, and even direct contact with sources such as animals.
The hypothesis is that ARGs, when emitted from, say, hospitals or livestock farming, could latch on to pollutant particles, which were found to contain “diverse antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic-resistance genes, which are transferred between environments and directly inhaled by humans, causing respiratory-tract injury and infection.”
When suspended in the environment or breathed into the lungs, the ARGs could enter the bacteria found in the human body and solidify its resistance to drugs. “PM 2.5 can facilitate the horizontal gene transfer of antibiotic-resistant genes between bacteria,” the research found.
PM2.5 contains a high concentration of antibiotic resistance-determinant genes, and these particles can travel far and wide due to wind speed, water evaporation, and dust transport.
ARGs are also more abundant in urban air particles than in sediment, soil or rivers, the analysis showed.
#upsc #news #headline #airpollution #antibiotic #health #diseases #drugs #bacteria #immune #news #globally #malaria #clinical #enviroment #ciprofloxacin #WHO #escherichiacoli #MDRTB #izoniazid #rifampin #nation #cholera #tuberculosis #antibiotics #china #GDP #hypothesis #sources #infection
The new analysis focuses on the environmental dissemination of ARGs. With every 1% rise in PM2.5 pollution, antibiotic resistance increased between 0.5-1.9% depending on the pathogen — a link which has only intensified with time.
The researchers added that this airborne spread may have also caused premature deaths in India and China, among other countries in South Asia, North Africa and the Middle East which are population dense.
An average of 18.2 million years of life was lost in 2018 worldwide, resulting in an annual economic loss of $395 billion (more than Pakistan’s GDP) due to premature deaths.
The paper is unique in its scale and scope: global antibiotic resistance is driven by multiple factors, one being the “effect derived from the environment, which is poorly understood in relation to antibiotic resistance”.
The researchers collected data from 116 countries spanning almost two decades, to observe the link between rising PM2.5 and antibiotic resistance. The researchers also analysed other predictors, including sanitation services, antibiotic use, population, education, climate.
How is air linked to antibiotic resistance?
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes travel through different pathways: food, soil, water, air, and even direct contact with sources such as animals.
The hypothesis is that ARGs, when emitted from, say, hospitals or livestock farming, could latch on to pollutant particles, which were found to contain “diverse antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic-resistance genes, which are transferred between environments and directly inhaled by humans, causing respiratory-tract injury and infection.”
When suspended in the environment or breathed into the lungs, the ARGs could enter the bacteria found in the human body and solidify its resistance to drugs. “PM 2.5 can facilitate the horizontal gene transfer of antibiotic-resistant genes between bacteria,” the research found.
PM2.5 contains a high concentration of antibiotic resistance-determinant genes, and these particles can travel far and wide due to wind speed, water evaporation, and dust transport.
ARGs are also more abundant in urban air particles than in sediment, soil or rivers, the analysis showed.
#upsc #news #headline #airpollution #antibiotic #health #diseases #drugs #bacteria #immune #news #globally #malaria #clinical #enviroment #ciprofloxacin #WHO #escherichiacoli #MDRTB #izoniazid #rifampin #nation #cholera #tuberculosis #antibiotics #china #GDP #hypothesis #sources #infection