ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 20, 1996 TAG: 9605200152
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GENEVA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Overuse of medicine, human settlement of uninhabited areas, international travel and poverty have combined to produce a devastating spread of infectious diseases, a new report said.
The report by the World Health Organization warns that the spread of untreatable forms of malaria and tuberculosis and the emergence of killers such as AIDS and Ebola threaten to undermine recent advances in health care.
``We are standing on the brink of a global crisis in infectious diseases,'' WHO Director-General Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima said.
``The optimism of a relatively few years ago that many of these diseases could be brought under control has led to a fatal complacency. This complacency is now costing millions of lives.''
The U.N. health organization issued the World Health Report 1996 as its weeklong annual assembly begins today.
There is some good news, however.
Globally, life expectancy is now 65, three years higher than in 1985. Infant mortality has been halved in 30 years to 60 deaths per 1,000 live births. This has encouraged women to have fewer babies - an average of three per family in 1995 compared with 3.2 in 1990 - although the planet is still overcrowded.
Eight out of 10 children are immunized against killers such as measles. Polio is on the verge of following smallpox into history. Leprosy, too, may soon become an evil of the past.
But overall, the 137-page report makes for gloomy reading.
More than 50,000 people die every day - 17 million per year - from infectious diseases. And there is no respite in sight.
``During the past 20 years, at least 30 new diseases have emerged to threaten the health of hundreds of millions of people. For many of these diseases there is no treatment, cure or vaccine,'' the report said.
AIDS was first identified in the early 1980s. More than 1 million people died of the disease last year. About 20 million adults are infected, according to WHO.
Ebola, a contagious hemorrhagic fever that surfaced in 1977, re-emerged to kill 245 people in Zaire a year ago. The hepatitis C virus, which was discovered in 1989, causes liver cancer.
Diseases that have been around for centuries are popping up in incurable strains.
For instance, the two organisms that cause pneumonia - one of the biggest childhood killers - are increasingly resistant to drugs. The same is true of malaria and TB strains.
Other diseases - such as cholera and yellow fever - are striking parts of the world that used to be considered safe, the report said.
The report attributed the upsurge to several factors.
Poverty and overcrowding provide ideal breeding grounds for harmful bacteria. Encroachment into previously uninhabited areas, especially jungles, is bringing humans into contact with new organisms, the report said.
Big population movements and international travel mean infections spread quickly. Many countries are reluctant to report dangerous diseases for fear of harming trade and tourism, making it more difficult to implement controls.
One of the main reasons for the increase in drug-resistant strains is ``the uncontrolled and inappropriate use of antibiotics,'' the agency said.
``They are used by too many people to treat the wrong kind of infections at the wrong dosage and for the wrong period of time,'' it said.
In wealthy countries, overuse of medicines has weakened immune systems. In developing countries, the risk of serious illness increases because people don't have the money to stick to a full course of antibiotics.
Making matters worse are modern methods of food production. Antibiotics are used in meat production to boost growth, but usually not in sufficient amounts to kill microbes.
Drug-resistant bacteria then are passed through the food chain to the consumer, the agency said. ``In the contest for supremacy, the microbes are sprinting ahead.''
LENGTH: Medium: 82 linesby CNB