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Wed, 11 Sep 2002 |
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Experts Discuss Better Germ Control
The Associated Press |
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WARWICK, England (AP) — People come into contact with others up to
1,000 times more frequently than they did a century ago and
infectious disease experts say scientists need to better understand
human behavior and movement in the global battle against germs.
Scientists gathering Monday at the annual meeting of Britain's
infectious disease trackers heard that while great strides have been
made in vaccine and antibiotic development, the importance of human
behavior and the way humans interact with microbes has been largely
neglected.
Humans are constantly giving opportunities to microbes — viruses,
bacteria, fungi and other bugs.
An example is measles, which has been recognized since at least the
early 10th century. The emergence of measles in the urban centers of
the great civilizations did not occur because the measles virus
changed. It occurred because human behavior changed, Dr. Mike Ryan,
global outbreak and response coordinator at the World Health
Organization, told scientists at the conference of the Public Health
Laboratory Service, Britain's equivalent of the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
``We talk about the battle against infectious diseases; the war on
AIDS — we have become very focused on a military approach to the
microbe,'' Ryan said. ``The microbe must be eradicated, eliminated,
beaten back. We overfocus on the microbe itself and less on the way
our society behaves, the way we live and interact and how we can
provide fewer opportunities for the microbe, rather than attacking
it.''
But it isn't a battle to be finished and won, Ryan said. The success
of the global eradication of smallpox in 1980 gave people a false
sense of hope that such success could be repeated for every disease.
``HIV has shown us that it's a much more complicated disease than
smallpox and it's not as easy to deal with,'' Ryan said. ``You never
win because microbes are part of nature. They will constantly
emerge. If we come to terms with that and if we are smart and quick
... we'll be ahead of them.''
The rate at which germs evolve is related to the rate of
transmission of the bugs between humans, noted Dr. Roy Anderson,
head of infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College of
Medicine in London.
``We understand very little about how the two are linked and about
the forces that drive microbe evolution in particular settings,''
Anderson said.
``Coming up in the future, in part stimulated by Sept. 11, we need
to understand a lot more about people's movements globally,'' he
said.
While it's clear there has been a massive increase in international
travel, scientists need to know more detail, such as the rate at
which people move between countries and continents and how they move
around within a country, Anderson said.
One facet of modern life that offers infectious disease trackers an
opportunity to gain such insight is the technology used for mobile
phones, he said.
``Mobile phones are connected by networks of receivers and
transmitters and an individual phone can be tracked round the United
Kingdom and internationally. That's a rich source about people's
movements,'' he said. ``I suspect in the coming years we are going
to have the first studies of how people move and behave between
particular localities.''
Anderson presented new research in which he estimated that between
1918 and 2000, physical contact between people in different
countries has increased by as much as 1,000 times.
Patterns of movement within countries have increased similarly in
the last 100 years, he added.
Ryan said Anderson's research has important implications for the
control of infectious diseases.
``It's the first time I've heard someone quantify it. It's quite
telling,'' he said. ``It's not that it makes the world a more
dangerous place. It just creates more opportunities for infectious
diseases to spread.''
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On the Net
Britain's Public Health Laboratory Service,
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