Eradication of infectious diseases
Encyclopedia
Eradication is the reduction of an infectious disease
's prevalence
in the global
host
population to zero. It is sometimes confused with elimination, which describes either the reduction of an infectious disease's prevalence in a regional population to zero, or the reduction of the global prevalence to a negligible amount. Further confusion arises from the use of the term eradication to refer to the total removal of a given pathogen
from an individual (also known as clearance of an infection
), particularly in the context of HIV
and certain other virus
es where such cures are sought.
Eight attempts have been made to date to eradicate infectious diseases—four aborted programs targeting hookworm
, malaria
, yaws
, and yellow fever
, two successful programs targeting smallpox
and rinderpest
, and two ongoing programs targeting poliomyelitis
and dracunculiasis
. Five more infectious diseases have been identified as of April 2008 as potentially eradicable with current technology by the Carter Center
International Task Force for Disease Eradication—measles
, mumps
, rubella
, lymphatic filariasis and cysticercosis
.
when Edward Jenner
demonstrated in 1798 that inoculation
of humans with cowpox
could protect against smallpox
.
The virus causing smallpox, Variola vera, has two variants: variola major, with a mortality rate around 30 percent, and variola minor, with a mortality rate less than 1 percent. The last naturally occurring case of variola major was diagnosed in October 1975 in Bangladesh
, and the last naturally occurring case of variola minor was diagnosed in October 1977 in Somalia
. The global eradication of smallpox was certified by a commission of scientists on December 9, 1979 and endorsed by the World Health Assembly on May 8, 1980.
, a viral disease which infected cattle and other ruminants and belonged to the same family as measles
, primarily through the use of a live attenuated vaccine. The final, successful campaign was led by the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) of the United Nations
. On 14 October 2010, with no diagnoses for nine years, the FAO announced that the disease had been completely eradicated, making this the first (and so far the only) disease of livestock to have been eradicated by human undertakings.
A dramatic reduction of the incidence
of poliomyelitis
in industrialized countries followed the development of a vaccine in the 1950s. In 1960, Czechoslovakia
became the first country certified to have eliminated polio.
In 1988, the World Health Organization
(WHO), Rotary International
, the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF), and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) passed the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Its goal was to eradicate polio by the year 2000. The updated strategic plan for 2004–2008 expects to achieve global eradication by interrupting poliovirus transmission, using the strategies of routine immunization
, supplementary immunization campaigns, and surveillance of possible outbreaks. The WHO estimates that global savings from eradication, due to forgone treatment and disability costs, could exceed one billion U.S. dollars
per year.
The following world regions have been declared polio-free:
The lowest annual polio prevalence seen so far was in 2001, with 483 reported cases. However, following interruption of vaccination in Nigeria in 2003–4 and a reduction in immunisation in India in 2001–2, there was a resurgence of polio transmission: in the period of 2002 to 2009, the number of global reported cases has remained between 750 and 2000 per year, with 1,606 cases in 2009. Some of these cases were the result of new importations in 31 countries which had previously interrupted transmission, leading to many subsequent outbreaks; 19 of these countries reported cases in 2009. Four further countries remain in which poliovirus transmission has never been interrupted (Nigeria
, India
, Pakistan
, and Afghanistan
). The current provisional total for 2010 stands at 1,294 cases from 20 countries. However, as of June 15, 2011, the total cases-to-date has dropped to 205 (compared to 349 in 2010), which may result in a new record for lowest annual polio prevalence.
Dracunculiasis
, also called guinea worm disease, is a painful and disabling parasitic disease caused by a worm, Dracunculus
medinensis. It is spread through consumption of drinking water infested with copepod
s hosting Dracunculus larvae. The Carter Center
has led the effort to eradicate the disease, along with the CDC, the WHO, UNICEF, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Unlike diseases such as smallpox and polio, there is no vaccine nor drug
therapy for guinea worm. Eradication efforts have been based on making drinking water
supplies safer (e.g. by provision of borehole wells, or through treating the water with larvicide), on containment of infection and on education for safe drinking water practices. These strategies have produced many successes: two decades of eradication efforts have reduced guinea worm's global incidence
to 1,797 cases in 2010, down from an estimated 3.5 million in 1986. Success has been slower than was hoped—the original goal for eradication was 1995. The WHO has certified 180 countries free of the disease, and only five countries—Sudan
, Ghana
, Mali
, Ethiopia
and Chad
—reported domestic transmission of guinea worm in 2010 (one further country, Niger
, reported imported cases). 94% of all cases reported in 2010 were in southern Sudan. As of 2010, the WHO predicted it would be "a few years yet" before eradication is achieved, on the basis that it took 6–12 years for the countries that have so far eliminated guinea worm transmission to do so after reporting a similar number of cases to that reported by Sudan in 2009.
This section does not cover elimination where it is used to mean control programs sufficiently tight to reduce the burden of an infectious disease or other health problem to a level where they may be deemed to have little impact on public health
, such as the leprosy
, neonatal tetanus
, or obstetric fistula
campaigns.
elimination has already been achieved in most of Europe
, North America
, Australasia
, North Africa
and the Caribbean
, and parts of South America
, Asia
and Southern Africa
, according to the Malaria Elimination Group at UCSF. As of 2011, a further 32 countries were in the process of eliminating malaria from all or part of their territory. The WHO define elimination as having no domestic transmission for the past three years. They also define an "elimination stage" when a country is on the verge of eliminating malaria, as being <1 case per 1000 people at risk per year. According to the 2010 WHO world malaria report, 27 countries are certified as having eliminated malaria, seven countries appear to be malaria free but steps still need to be taken to ensure they do not re-establish transmission, 10 countries are in the elimination stage and nine the pre-elimination stage (<5 cases per 1000 people at risk per year).
There has also been a discussion of moving to global eradication. At the Gates Foundation Malaria Forum in October 2007, Bill
and Melinda Gates
called for a new plan for malaria eradication, by going as far as possible with existing tools while also investing in new ones. Nearly a year later, on September 25, 2008, the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership
unveiled the Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP)
, in which a series of measures were proposed to eliminate malaria as a global public health concern by 2015, eliminate all malaria transmission within 8–10 countries by the same deadline, and build towards its eventual global eradication.
. Studies have demonstrated that transmission of the infection can be broken when a single dose of combined oral medicines is consistently maintained annually for approximately seven years. The strategy for eliminating transmission of lymphatic filariasis is mass distribution of medicines that kill the microfilariae and stop transmission of the parasite by mosquitoes in endemic communities. In sub-Saharan Africa
, albendazole (donated by GlaxoSmithKline
) is being used with ivermectin (donated by Merck & Co.
) to treat the disease, whereas elsewhere in the world albendazole is used with diethylcarbamazine
. Using a combination of treatments better reduces the number of microfilariae in blood. Avoiding mosquito bites, such as by using insecticide
-treated mosquito bed nets, also reduces the transmission of lymphatic filariasis. In the Americas, >90% of the burden of lymphatic filariasis is on the island of Hispaniola (comprising Haiti and the Dominican Republic). An elimination effort to address this is currently under way alongside the malaria effort described above; the Dominican Republic expects to eliminate its seven remaining foci by 2010, but lymphatic filariasis is still endemic to 110 of 140 communes in Haiti.
As of October 2008, the efforts of the Global Programme to Eliminate LF are estimated to have already prevented 6.6 million new filariasis cases from developing in children, and to have stopped the progression of the disease in another 9.5 million people who have already contracted it. Overall, of 83 endemic countries, mass treatment has been rolled out in 48, and elimination of transmission reportedly achieved in 21.
, and at the 63rd World Health Assembly in May 2010, delegates agreed to move towards eventual eradication, although no specific global target date has yet been agreed. The Americas
set a goal in 1994 to eliminate measles and rubella transmission by 2000, and successfully achieved regional measles elimination in 2002, although there have been occasional small outbreaks from imported cases since then. Europe had set a goal to eliminate measles transmission by 2010, but were hindered by the MMR vaccine controversy
and by low uptake in certain groups, and despite achieving low levels by 2008, European countries have since experienced a small resurgence in cases. The Eastern Mediterranean also had goals to eliminate measles by 2010, The Western Pacific aims to eliminate the disease by 2012, and in 2009 the regional committee for Africa agreed a goal of measles elimination by 2020. As of May 2010, only the South-East Asian region has yet to set a target date for elimination of measles transmission.
In 2005, a global target was agreed for a 90% reduction in measles deaths by 2010 from the 757,000 deaths in 2000; estimates for 2008 show a 78% decline so far to 164,000 deaths. However, some have been pushing to attempt global eradication. This was updated at the 2010 world health assembly to a targeted 95% reduction in mortality by 2015, alongside specific vaccination and structural targets, and in a meeting in November 2010, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization "concluded that measles can and should be eradicated". A study of the costs of eradicating measles compared to the costs of maintaining indefinite control was commissioned in 2009 by the WHO and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
elimination. The WHO region of the Americas set itself a target for regional elimination of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome by 2010. As of 2010, the last confirmed endemic case of rubella in the Americas was in Argentina in February 2009 and verification of regional elimination is currently under way and due to complete by 2012. The WHO European region also set a target of 2010. However, as of 2008 there were still 20,579 reported cases of rubella, 311 of which were laboratory confirmed, just among the 27 countries reporting data to EUVAC.
(river blindness) is the world's second leading cause of infectious blindness
. It is caused by the nematode
Onchocerca volvulus, which is transmitted to people via the bite of a black fly
. Elimination of this disease is under way in the region of the Americas, where this disease is endemic to Brazil
, Colombia
, Ecuador
, Guatemala
, Mexico
and Venezuela
. The principal tool being used is mass ivermectin treatment. If successful, the only remaining endemic countries would be in Africa
and Yemen
. In Africa, it is estimated that >102 million people in 19 countries are at high risk of onchocerciasis infection, and in 2008, 56.7 million people in 15 of these countries received community-directed treatment with ivermectin. Since adopting such treatment measures in 1997, the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control reports a reduction in the prevalence of onchocerciasis in the countries under its mandate from a pre-intervention level of 46.5% in 1995 to 28.5% in 2008. Some African countries, such as Uganda
, are also attempting elimination and successful elimination was reported in 2009 from two endemic foci in Mali and Senegal
.
is a rarely fatal but highly disfiguring disease caused by the spiral-shaped bacterium (spirochete) Treponema pertenue, a relative of the syphilis
bacteria Treponema pallidum, spread through skin to skin contact with infectious lesions. The global prevalence of this disease and the other endemic trematoses, Bejel
and Pinta
, was reduced by the Global Control of Treponematoses (TCP) programme between 1952 and 1964 from about 50 million cases to about 2.5 million (a 95% reduction). However, following the cessation of this program these diseases remained at a low prevalence in parts of Asia, Africa and the Americas with sporadic outbreaks. Yaws is currently targeted by the South-East Asian Regional Office of the WHO for elimination from the remaining endemic countries in this region (India
, Indonesia
and East Timor
) by 2010, and so far, this appears to have met with some success, since no cases have been seen in India since 2004.
in cattle across the EU and beyond which appear to have achieved large reductions in the number of cattle with this disease. Cases of vCJD have also fallen since then, for instance from an annual peak in the UK of 28 cases in 2000 to 3 cases in 2010.
Following the ongoing eradication effort, only 45 cases of BSE were reported worldwide in 2010, the fewest since at least 1988.
The War of the Worlds
by H. G. Wells
, in which the Martian race have long eradicated their own infectious diseases, leaving them vulnerable to Earth pathogens following the atrophy of their natural defences.
The Evitable Conflict
, by Isaac Asimov
, describes a future run by Machines in the manner which they see as most conducive to man's best interests, in which "we have eradicated the anopheles mosquito and the tsetse fly
".
Infectious disease
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
's prevalence
Prevalence
In epidemiology, the prevalence of a health-related state in a statistical population is defined as the total number of cases of the risk factor in the population at a given time, or the total number of cases in the population, divided by the number of individuals in the population...
in the global
Global
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Global , 2003* Global , 2007* Global , 1989* Global Underground, music label* Bruno J...
host
Host (biology)
In biology, a host is an organism that harbors a parasite, or a mutual or commensal symbiont, typically providing nourishment and shelter. In botany, a host plant is one that supplies food resources and substrate for certain insects or other fauna...
population to zero. It is sometimes confused with elimination, which describes either the reduction of an infectious disease's prevalence in a regional population to zero, or the reduction of the global prevalence to a negligible amount. Further confusion arises from the use of the term eradication to refer to the total removal of a given pathogen
Pathogen
A pathogen gignomai "I give birth to") or infectious agent — colloquially, a germ — is a microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its animal or plant host...
from an individual (also known as clearance of an infection
Infection
An infection is the colonization of a host organism by parasite species. Infecting parasites seek to use the host's resources to reproduce, often resulting in disease...
), particularly in the context of HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
and certain other virus
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
es where such cures are sought.
Eight attempts have been made to date to eradicate infectious diseases—four aborted programs targeting hookworm
Hookworm
The hookworm is a parasitic nematode that lives in the small intestine of its host, which may be a mammal such as a dog, cat, or human. Two species of hookworms commonly infect humans, Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus. A. duodenale predominates in the Middle East, North Africa, India...
, malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, yaws
Yaws
Yaws is a tropical infection of the skin, bones and joints caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum pertenue...
, and yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
, two successful programs targeting smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
and rinderpest
Rinderpest
Rinderpest was an infectious viral disease of cattle, domestic buffalo, and some other species of even-toed ungulates, including buffaloes, large antelopes and deer, giraffes, wildebeests and warthogs. After a global eradication campaign, the last confirmed case of rinderpest was diagnosed in 2001...
, and two ongoing programs targeting poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route...
and dracunculiasis
Dracunculiasis
Dracunculiasis , also called guinea worm disease , is a parasitic infection caused by Dracunculus medinensis, a long and very thin nematode . The infection begins when a person drinks stagnant water contaminated with copepods infested by the larvae of the guinea worm...
. Five more infectious diseases have been identified as of April 2008 as potentially eradicable with current technology by the Carter Center
Carter Center
The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. In partnership with Emory University, The Carter Center works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering...
International Task Force for Disease Eradication—measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
, mumps
Mumps
Mumps is a viral disease of the human species, caused by the mumps virus. Before the development of vaccination and the introduction of a vaccine, it was a common childhood disease worldwide...
, rubella
Rubella
Rubella, commonly known as German measles, is a disease caused by the rubella virus. The name "rubella" is derived from the Latin, meaning little red. Rubella is also known as German measles because the disease was first described by German physicians in the mid-eighteenth century. This disease is...
, lymphatic filariasis and cysticercosis
Cysticercosis
Cysticercosis refers to tissue infection after exposure to eggs of Taenia solium, the pork tapeworm. The disease is spread via the fecal-oral route through contaminated food and water, and is primarily a food borne disease. After ingestion the eggs pass through the lumen of the intestine into the...
.
Eradicated
So far, two diseases have been successfully eradicated—one specifically affecting humans (smallpox), and one affecting a wide range of ruminants (rinderpest).Smallpox
Smallpox is the first disease, and so far the only infectious disease of humans, to have been eradicated by human undertakings. It became the first disease for which there was an effective vaccinationVaccination
Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...
when Edward Jenner
Edward Jenner
Edward Anthony Jenner was an English scientist who studied his natural surroundings in Berkeley, Gloucestershire...
demonstrated in 1798 that inoculation
Inoculation
Inoculation is the placement of something that will grow or reproduce, and is most commonly used in respect of the introduction of a serum, vaccine, or antigenic substance into the body of a human or animal, especially to produce or boost immunity to a specific disease...
of humans with cowpox
Cowpox
Cowpox is a skin disease caused by a virus known as the Cowpox virus. The pox is related to the vaccinia virus and got its name from the distribution of the disease when dairymaids touched the udders of infected cows. The ailment manifests itself in the form of red blisters and is transmitted by...
could protect against smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
.
The virus causing smallpox, Variola vera, has two variants: variola major, with a mortality rate around 30 percent, and variola minor, with a mortality rate less than 1 percent. The last naturally occurring case of variola major was diagnosed in October 1975 in Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, and the last naturally occurring case of variola minor was diagnosed in October 1977 in Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
. The global eradication of smallpox was certified by a commission of scientists on December 9, 1979 and endorsed by the World Health Assembly on May 8, 1980.
Rinderpest
During the 20th century, there were a series of campaigns to eradicate rinderpestRinderpest
Rinderpest was an infectious viral disease of cattle, domestic buffalo, and some other species of even-toed ungulates, including buffaloes, large antelopes and deer, giraffes, wildebeests and warthogs. After a global eradication campaign, the last confirmed case of rinderpest was diagnosed in 2001...
, a viral disease which infected cattle and other ruminants and belonged to the same family as measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
, primarily through the use of a live attenuated vaccine. The final, successful campaign was led by the Food and Agriculture Organization
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...
(FAO) of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. On 14 October 2010, with no diagnoses for nine years, the FAO announced that the disease had been completely eradicated, making this the first (and so far the only) disease of livestock to have been eradicated by human undertakings.
Poliomyelitis (polio)
| International Polio Cases by Year | ||
| Year | Estimated | Recorded |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | - | 49,293 |
| 1980 | 400,000 | 52,552 |
| 1985 | - | 38,637 |
| 1988 | 350,000 | 35,251 |
| 1990 | - | 23,484 |
| 1993 | 100,000 | 10,487 |
| 1995 | - | 7,035 |
| 2000 | - | 2,971 |
| 2001 | - | 483 |
| 2002 | - | 1,922 |
| 2003 | - | 784 |
| 2004 | - | 1,258 |
| 2005 | - | 1,998 |
| 2006 | - | 1,985 |
| 2007 | - | 1,315 |
| 2008 | - | 1,652 |
| 2009 | - | 1,606 |
| 2010 | - | 1,349 |
| References: | ||
A dramatic reduction of the incidence
Incidence (epidemiology)
Incidence is a measure of the risk of developing some new condition within a specified period of time. Although sometimes loosely expressed simply as the number of new cases during some time period, it is better expressed as a proportion or a rate with a denominator.Incidence proportion is the...
of poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route...
in industrialized countries followed the development of a vaccine in the 1950s. In 1960, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
became the first country certified to have eliminated polio.
In 1988, the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
(WHO), Rotary International
Rotary International
Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...
, the United Nations Children's Fund
United Nations Children's Fund
United Nations Children's Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II...
(UNICEF), and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...
(CDC) passed the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Its goal was to eradicate polio by the year 2000. The updated strategic plan for 2004–2008 expects to achieve global eradication by interrupting poliovirus transmission, using the strategies of routine immunization
Immunization
Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an agent ....
, supplementary immunization campaigns, and surveillance of possible outbreaks. The WHO estimates that global savings from eradication, due to forgone treatment and disability costs, could exceed one billion U.S. dollars
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
per year.
The following world regions have been declared polio-free:
- The AmericasAmericasThe Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
(1994) - Indo-West PacificIndo-West PacificThe Indo-West Pacific, or IWP, is a zoogeographical region spanning the entire Indian Ocean including the Red Sea and the Pacific Ocean as far as the Caroline Islands but short of the Marshall Islands...
region (1997) - EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
(1998) - Western Pacific region, including ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
(2000)
The lowest annual polio prevalence seen so far was in 2001, with 483 reported cases. However, following interruption of vaccination in Nigeria in 2003–4 and a reduction in immunisation in India in 2001–2, there was a resurgence of polio transmission: in the period of 2002 to 2009, the number of global reported cases has remained between 750 and 2000 per year, with 1,606 cases in 2009. Some of these cases were the result of new importations in 31 countries which had previously interrupted transmission, leading to many subsequent outbreaks; 19 of these countries reported cases in 2009. Four further countries remain in which poliovirus transmission has never been interrupted (Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
). The current provisional total for 2010 stands at 1,294 cases from 20 countries. However, as of June 15, 2011, the total cases-to-date has dropped to 205 (compared to 349 in 2010), which may result in a new record for lowest annual polio prevalence.
Dracunculiasis
| International Guinea Worm Cases by Year | ||
| Year | Reported Cases | Countries |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 892,055 | 16 |
| 1995 | 129,852 | 19 |
| 2000 | 75,223 | 16 |
| 2001 | 63,717 | 16 |
| 2002 | 54,638 | 14 |
| 2003 | 32,193 | 13 |
| 2004 | 16,026 | 13 |
| 2005 | 10,674 | 12 |
| 2006 | 25,217 | 10 |
| 2007 | 9,585 | 9 |
| 2008 | 4,619 | 7 |
| 2009 | 3,190 | 5 |
| 2010 | 1,797 | 6 |
Dracunculiasis
Dracunculiasis
Dracunculiasis , also called guinea worm disease , is a parasitic infection caused by Dracunculus medinensis, a long and very thin nematode . The infection begins when a person drinks stagnant water contaminated with copepods infested by the larvae of the guinea worm...
, also called guinea worm disease, is a painful and disabling parasitic disease caused by a worm, Dracunculus
Dracunculus
Dracunculus is a genus of spiruroid nematode parasites in the family Dracunculidae. Some species infest humans, and alter their hosts’ behaviour in a way that supports the worm’s reproductive cycle. Dracunculus causes a blister to form on foot of the host, causing severe pain and boiling sensation...
medinensis. It is spread through consumption of drinking water infested with copepod
Copepod
Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat. Some species are planktonic , some are benthic , and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests,...
s hosting Dracunculus larvae. The Carter Center
Carter Center
The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. In partnership with Emory University, The Carter Center works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering...
has led the effort to eradicate the disease, along with the CDC, the WHO, UNICEF, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Unlike diseases such as smallpox and polio, there is no vaccine nor drug
Drug
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition, as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine, and colloquial usage.In pharmacology, a...
therapy for guinea worm. Eradication efforts have been based on making drinking water
Drinking water
Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...
supplies safer (e.g. by provision of borehole wells, or through treating the water with larvicide), on containment of infection and on education for safe drinking water practices. These strategies have produced many successes: two decades of eradication efforts have reduced guinea worm's global incidence
Incidence (epidemiology)
Incidence is a measure of the risk of developing some new condition within a specified period of time. Although sometimes loosely expressed simply as the number of new cases during some time period, it is better expressed as a proportion or a rate with a denominator.Incidence proportion is the...
to 1,797 cases in 2010, down from an estimated 3.5 million in 1986. Success has been slower than was hoped—the original goal for eradication was 1995. The WHO has certified 180 countries free of the disease, and only five countries—Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
, Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...
, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
and Chad
Chad
Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...
—reported domestic transmission of guinea worm in 2010 (one further country, Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
, reported imported cases). 94% of all cases reported in 2010 were in southern Sudan. As of 2010, the WHO predicted it would be "a few years yet" before eradication is achieved, on the basis that it took 6–12 years for the countries that have so far eliminated guinea worm transmission to do so after reporting a similar number of cases to that reported by Sudan in 2009.
Regional elimination established or under way
Some diseases have already been eliminated from large regions of the world, and/or are currently being targeted for regional elimination. This is sometimes described as "eradication", although technically the term only applies when this is achieved on a global scale. Even after regional elimination is successful, interventions often need to continue to prevent a disease becoming re-established. Three of the diseases here listed (Lymphatic Filariasis, Measles, and Rubella) are among the diseases believed to be potentially eradicable by the International Task Force for Disease Eradication, and if successful, regional elimination programs may yet prove a stepping stone to later global eradication programs.This section does not cover elimination where it is used to mean control programs sufficiently tight to reduce the burden of an infectious disease or other health problem to a level where they may be deemed to have little impact on public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
, such as the leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
, neonatal tetanus
Tetanus
Tetanus is a medical condition characterized by a prolonged contraction of skeletal muscle fibers. The primary symptoms are caused by tetanospasmin, a neurotoxin produced by the Gram-positive, rod-shaped, obligate anaerobic bacterium Clostridium tetani...
, or obstetric fistula
Obstetric fistula
Obstetric fistula is a severe medical condition in which a fistula develops between either the rectum and vagina or between the bladder and vagina after severe or failed childbirth, when adequate medical care is not available.-Symptoms and signs:The resulting disorders typically include...
campaigns.
Malaria
MalariaMalaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
elimination has already been achieved in most of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Australasia
Australasia
Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...
, North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, and parts of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Southern Africa
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...
, according to the Malaria Elimination Group at UCSF. As of 2011, a further 32 countries were in the process of eliminating malaria from all or part of their territory. The WHO define elimination as having no domestic transmission for the past three years. They also define an "elimination stage" when a country is on the verge of eliminating malaria, as being <1 case per 1000 people at risk per year. According to the 2010 WHO world malaria report, 27 countries are certified as having eliminated malaria, seven countries appear to be malaria free but steps still need to be taken to ensure they do not re-establish transmission, 10 countries are in the elimination stage and nine the pre-elimination stage (<5 cases per 1000 people at risk per year).
There has also been a discussion of moving to global eradication. At the Gates Foundation Malaria Forum in October 2007, Bill
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
and Melinda Gates
Melinda Gates
Melinda Ann French , later known as Melinda French Gates, is an American businesswoman and philanthropist. She is the wife of Bill Gates...
called for a new plan for malaria eradication, by going as far as possible with existing tools while also investing in new ones. Nearly a year later, on September 25, 2008, the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership
Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership
The Roll Back Malaria Partnership is the global framework for coordinated action against malaria. It forges consensus among key actors in malaria control, harmonises action and mobilises resources to fight malaria in endemic countries....
unveiled the Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP)
Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP)
Global Malaria Action Plan is the first single comprehensive blueprint for global malaria control and elimination. It outlines strategies, costs, goals and timelines designed to build on the trajectory of recent successes in malaria control, moving towards full malaria control and beyond in...
, in which a series of measures were proposed to eliminate malaria as a global public health concern by 2015, eliminate all malaria transmission within 8–10 countries by the same deadline, and build towards its eventual global eradication.
Lymphatic filariasis
Lymphatic filariasis is an infection of the lymph system by mosquito-borne microfilarial worms which can cause elephantiasisElephantiasis
Elephantiasis is a disease that is characterized by the thickening of the skin and underlying tissues, especially in the legs and male genitals. In some cases the disease can cause certain body parts, such as the scrotum, to swell to the size of a softball or basketball. It is caused by...
. Studies have demonstrated that transmission of the infection can be broken when a single dose of combined oral medicines is consistently maintained annually for approximately seven years. The strategy for eliminating transmission of lymphatic filariasis is mass distribution of medicines that kill the microfilariae and stop transmission of the parasite by mosquitoes in endemic communities. In sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
, albendazole (donated by GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...
) is being used with ivermectin (donated by Merck & Co.
Merck & Co.
Merck & Co., Inc. , also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada, is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The Merck headquarters is located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, an unincorporated area in Readington Township...
) to treat the disease, whereas elsewhere in the world albendazole is used with diethylcarbamazine
Diethylcarbamazine
Diethylcarbamazine is an anthelmintic drug that does not resemble other antiparasitic compounds. It is a synthetic organic compound which is highly specific for several parasites and does not contain any toxic metallic elements.-Uses:...
. Using a combination of treatments better reduces the number of microfilariae in blood. Avoiding mosquito bites, such as by using insecticide
Insecticide
An insecticide is a pesticide used against insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against the eggs and larvae of insects respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and the household. The use of insecticides is believed to be one of the major factors behind...
-treated mosquito bed nets, also reduces the transmission of lymphatic filariasis. In the Americas, >90% of the burden of lymphatic filariasis is on the island of Hispaniola (comprising Haiti and the Dominican Republic). An elimination effort to address this is currently under way alongside the malaria effort described above; the Dominican Republic expects to eliminate its seven remaining foci by 2010, but lymphatic filariasis is still endemic to 110 of 140 communes in Haiti.
As of October 2008, the efforts of the Global Programme to Eliminate LF are estimated to have already prevented 6.6 million new filariasis cases from developing in children, and to have stopped the progression of the disease in another 9.5 million people who have already contracted it. Overall, of 83 endemic countries, mass treatment has been rolled out in 48, and elimination of transmission reportedly achieved in 21.
Measles
Five out of six WHO regions have goals to eliminate measlesMeasles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
, and at the 63rd World Health Assembly in May 2010, delegates agreed to move towards eventual eradication, although no specific global target date has yet been agreed. The Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
set a goal in 1994 to eliminate measles and rubella transmission by 2000, and successfully achieved regional measles elimination in 2002, although there have been occasional small outbreaks from imported cases since then. Europe had set a goal to eliminate measles transmission by 2010, but were hindered by the MMR vaccine controversy
MMR vaccine controversy
The MMR vaccine controversy was a case of scientific misconduct which triggered a health scare. It followed the publication in 1998 of a paper in the medical journal The Lancet which presented apparent evidence that autism spectrum disorders could be caused by the MMR vaccine, an immunization...
and by low uptake in certain groups, and despite achieving low levels by 2008, European countries have since experienced a small resurgence in cases. The Eastern Mediterranean also had goals to eliminate measles by 2010, The Western Pacific aims to eliminate the disease by 2012, and in 2009 the regional committee for Africa agreed a goal of measles elimination by 2020. As of May 2010, only the South-East Asian region has yet to set a target date for elimination of measles transmission.
In 2005, a global target was agreed for a 90% reduction in measles deaths by 2010 from the 757,000 deaths in 2000; estimates for 2008 show a 78% decline so far to 164,000 deaths. However, some have been pushing to attempt global eradication. This was updated at the 2010 world health assembly to a targeted 95% reduction in mortality by 2015, alongside specific vaccination and structural targets, and in a meeting in November 2010, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization "concluded that measles can and should be eradicated". A study of the costs of eradicating measles compared to the costs of maintaining indefinite control was commissioned in 2009 by the WHO and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Rubella
Two WHO regions have set 2010 as a target for rubellaRubella
Rubella, commonly known as German measles, is a disease caused by the rubella virus. The name "rubella" is derived from the Latin, meaning little red. Rubella is also known as German measles because the disease was first described by German physicians in the mid-eighteenth century. This disease is...
elimination. The WHO region of the Americas set itself a target for regional elimination of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome by 2010. As of 2010, the last confirmed endemic case of rubella in the Americas was in Argentina in February 2009 and verification of regional elimination is currently under way and due to complete by 2012. The WHO European region also set a target of 2010. However, as of 2008 there were still 20,579 reported cases of rubella, 311 of which were laboratory confirmed, just among the 27 countries reporting data to EUVAC.
Onchocerciasis
OnchocerciasisOnchocerciasis
Onchocerciasis , also known as river blindness and Robles' disease, is a parasitic disease caused by infection by Onchocerca volvulus, a nematode . Onchocerciasis is the world's second-leading infectious cause of blindness. It is not the nematode, but its endosymbiont, Wolbachia pipientis, that...
(river blindness) is the world's second leading cause of infectious blindness
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
. It is caused by the nematode
Nematode
The nematodes or roundworms are the most diverse phylum of pseudocoelomates, and one of the most diverse of all animals. Nematode species are very difficult to distinguish; over 28,000 have been described, of which over 16,000 are parasitic. It has been estimated that the total number of nematode...
Onchocerca volvulus, which is transmitted to people via the bite of a black fly
Black fly
A black fly is any member of the family Simuliidae of the Culicomorpha infraorder. They are related to the Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae, and Thaumaleidae. There are over 1,800 known species of black flies . Most species belong to the immense genus Simulium...
. Elimination of this disease is under way in the region of the Americas, where this disease is endemic to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
. The principal tool being used is mass ivermectin treatment. If successful, the only remaining endemic countries would be in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
. In Africa, it is estimated that >102 million people in 19 countries are at high risk of onchocerciasis infection, and in 2008, 56.7 million people in 15 of these countries received community-directed treatment with ivermectin. Since adopting such treatment measures in 1997, the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control reports a reduction in the prevalence of onchocerciasis in the countries under its mandate from a pre-intervention level of 46.5% in 1995 to 28.5% in 2008. Some African countries, such as Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, are also attempting elimination and successful elimination was reported in 2009 from two endemic foci in Mali and Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
.
Yaws
YawsYaws
Yaws is a tropical infection of the skin, bones and joints caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum pertenue...
is a rarely fatal but highly disfiguring disease caused by the spiral-shaped bacterium (spirochete) Treponema pertenue, a relative of the syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
bacteria Treponema pallidum, spread through skin to skin contact with infectious lesions. The global prevalence of this disease and the other endemic trematoses, Bejel
Bejel
Bejel, or endemic syphilis, is a chronic skin and tissue disease caused by infection by a subspecies of the spirochete Treponema pallidum....
and Pinta
Pinta (disease)
Pinta is a human skin disease endemic to Mexico, Central America, and South America. It is caused by infection with a spirochete, Treponema pallidum carateum, which is morphologically and serologically indistinguishable from the organism that causes syphilis.-Presentation:Pinta is thought to be...
, was reduced by the Global Control of Treponematoses (TCP) programme between 1952 and 1964 from about 50 million cases to about 2.5 million (a 95% reduction). However, following the cessation of this program these diseases remained at a low prevalence in parts of Asia, Africa and the Americas with sporadic outbreaks. Yaws is currently targeted by the South-East Asian Regional Office of the WHO for elimination from the remaining endemic countries in this region (India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
) by 2010, and so far, this appears to have met with some success, since no cases have been seen in India since 2004.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and new variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD)
Following an epidemic of vCJD in the UK in the 1990s, there have been campaigns to eliminate BSEBovine spongiform encephalopathy
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy , commonly known as mad-cow disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. BSE has a long incubation period, about 30 months to 8 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of...
in cattle across the EU and beyond which appear to have achieved large reductions in the number of cattle with this disease. Cases of vCJD have also fallen since then, for instance from an annual peak in the UK of 28 cases in 2000 to 3 cases in 2010.
Following the ongoing eradication effort, only 45 cases of BSE were reported worldwide in 2010, the fewest since at least 1988.
In fiction
Futures and futuristic alien civilizations in which some or all infectious diseases have been eradicated are a staple of science fiction. Examples include:The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds is an 1898 science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells.The War of the Worlds may also refer to:- Radio broadcasts :* The War of the Worlds , the 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles...
by H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
, in which the Martian race have long eradicated their own infectious diseases, leaving them vulnerable to Earth pathogens following the atrophy of their natural defences.
The Evitable Conflict
The Evitable Conflict
The Evitable Conflict is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It first appeared in the June 1950 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and subsequently appeared in the collections I, Robot , The Complete Robot , and Robot Visions .-Plot summary:The "Machines", powerful positronic computers...
, by Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
, describes a future run by Machines in the manner which they see as most conducive to man's best interests, in which "we have eradicated the anopheles mosquito and the tsetse fly
Tsetse fly
Tsetse , sometimes spelled tzetze and also known as tik-tik flies, are large biting flies that inhabit much of mid-continental Africa between the Sahara and the Kalahari deserts. They live by feeding on the blood of vertebrate animals and are the primary biological vectors of trypanosomes, which...
".
See also
- Planned extinction
- VaccinationVaccinationVaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...
- Globalization and diseaseGlobalization and diseaseGlobalization, the flow of information, goods, capital and people across political and geographic boundaries, has helped to spread some of the deadliest infectious diseases known to humans. The spread of diseases across wide geographic scales has increased through history...
- Drugs for neglected diseases initiativeDrugs for Neglected Diseases InitiativeThe Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative 501 is a non-profit drug research and development organization that is developing new treatments for neglected diseases....