Veterinary Public Health Journal | Issue #17
How infectious disease outbreaks are shaping our world and vice versa? Over the past decades, the number of outbreaks caused by infections has been on the rise, causing severe damage to countries’ communities, economy and public health security . The main protagonists that have embodied the most recent outbreaks are amongst others Vibrio Cholerae, Ebolavirus, Influenzavirus, SARS-CoV and most recently the novel coronavirus SARSCoV-2. Be it bacteria or viruses, these deadly microorganisms are constantly proving us that the smallest entities often come up as the biggest threat. But what is the extent of the damage they are causing, and Are we heading towards the right direction to master future potential outbreaks? In 2020, approximately 200,000 years after the beginning of modern humankind , the menace of a pandemic is still pervading the world despite the astonishing medicinal, scientific and socio-economic progress we have made. One might argue that the challenge lies within the vast array of currently unknown infectious agents. In reality, our efforts to prevent future outbreaks of infections are not sufficient, in spite of knowledge of possible solutions. To make matters worse, re-emerging diseases that we considered to be on the decline – such as malaria and tuberculosis – have managed to make their comeback. Today’s reality shows that infectious diseases still remain one of the leading causes of deaths on a global scale .
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regard to the treatment of people in need of medical care for diverse health issues, that could become fatal if not treated properly and in due time. In addition, health workers are also at risk of contracting the diseases, thus potentially reducing the labor force in this important domain. Consequently, a single epidemic may aggravate other diseases that have so far been under control, substantially multiplying their fatality rate due to the fragile health care system we are relying upon. Besides medical aspects, outbreaks disrupt our everyday lives, leading to closures of educational institutions, commercial establishments, public services, and even borders. This state of “lockdown”, with the primary goal of breaking the chain of infection through social distancing, generates considerable damage to countries’ economies. Discontinuation of trade, decline in tourism, closure of businesses; all these elements can quickly lead to an important recession, for which a country would need years to recover from. To put it into numbers, the World Bank has estimated that a pandemic causing over 28 millions of deaths (for comparison, at least 50 million deaths have been recorded amidst the 1918 Influenza Pandemic ) could result in a loss of as much as 5% of global GDP . The UN has also projected a global economic slowdown, estimating a loss of at least 1 trillion USD in 2020 alone – corresponding to a deficit of 2% of global economy – as a consequence of the recent Covid-19 outbreak .
In the first instance, it is the health concerns that prevail in such an outbreak. But what we are really looking at is just the tip of the iceberg. It is fair to say that disease outbreaks have put us through multiple tests that have enabled us an auto-evaluation of our societies’ structure. The first victims of an outbreak are the affected community of individuals, and ultimately the complete health system. As the most recent Covid-19 outbreak has demonstrated, an important outbreak can easily overwhelm the nation’s health system without any major effort . This aspect particularly raises concerns with VetPubHealth Journal ISSUE 17 IVSA Standing Committe on One Health
April 2020
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