Virology

Biography

Biography: Gamal El Sawaf

Abstract

Emerging and re-emerging infections are very real and major problem that comprise a substantial fraction of all consequential human infections. In Egypt and elsewhere, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases increasingly threaten public health and contribute substantially to the escalating costs of health care. There have been several outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging infections in Middle East including Egypt in recent years. They include avian influenza (H5N1), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), pandemic H1N1 influenza, Dengue and Chikungunya viral infections, hand, foot and mouth disease due to Enterovirus 71, the most recent MER CoV, tuberculosis infection, infection with hepatitis C virus - now recognized as a leading cause of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis in Egypt, and health care infections due to multiply resistant organisms. The factors causing emergence and re-emergence are still not well understood and insufficient efforts have been made to meet this challenge. Both human activity and climatic changes appear to be key factors in the emergence and reemergence of infections in this area. Uncontrolled urbanization arising from mass rural-to-urban migration creates vast urban slums. Slum dwellings which are overcrowded, poorly ventilated, without proper potable water supplies or sewerage systems are often the foci of outbreaks of respiratory and waterborne infections. Despite extraordinary advances in development of countermeasures (diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines), the ease of world travel and increased global interdependence have added layers of complexity to containing these infectious diseases that affect not only the health but the economic stability of societies. Our country needs to put in place a comprehensive plan to meet the challenge of emerging diseases. A multidisciplinary approach is required and the strategies involved should not merely confined to medical and health strategies. Strategies should also include social and behavioral, economic and political solutions. Health-based strategies would include improving surveillance, early detection and control of the spread of infectious diseases and the formulation of rapid response plans at national, regional and global levels.