The Belt and Road Initiative: Challenges and opportunities in tackling emerging infectious diseases
Journal Title: Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine - Year 2018, Vol 11, Issue 10
Abstract
The majority of emerging infectious disease agents affecting human are RNA viruses that originate from animals. Globalization and climate changes continue to reshape the geographical distribution of humans, animals, vectors, and microbes, and allow their mixing to occur at an unprecedentedly high frequency. These have led to interspecies transmission of numerous emerging pathogens in the past decades, such as avian (H5N1 and H7N9) and pandemic (H1N1) influenza viruses, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronaviruses. The increasing demand for food, sex, and drugs associated with the rising, mobile and ageing populations and the economic growth in the rapidly developing geographical regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative may lead to outbreaks of zoonoses, sexually transmitted diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and infections associated with contaminated pharmaceutical products. These outbreaks often occur in the setting of marked lagging in hygiene, public health and regulatory measures and are accompanied by microbial genome adaptation to the changing microbiomes in human, animal and the ecosystem. The outbreak of SARS in 2003 has sparked an explosion of novel coronavirus discovery by virological surveillance in animals and human. The number of coronaviruses has increased from 10 before 2003 to over 40 with complete genomes within the past 14 years. Except for HCoV-HKU1 and HCoV-NL63 which are found in human, the majority of these newly discovered coronaviruses are found in bats and birds. In addition to enhancing our understanding in the phylogeny and evolution of coronaviruses, animal surveillance for novel viruses has strategic importance in the control of emerging infectious diseases through genomic analysis, study of pathogenesis, and development of rapid diagnostic tests, antimicrobials, vaccines and infection control strategies.
Authors and Affiliations
Kwok-Yung Yuen
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP401551
- DOI 10.4103/1995-7645.243069
- Views 59
- Downloads 0
An overview on cardioprotective and anti-diabetic effects of thymoquinone
Thymoquinone (TQ), one of the active components of Nigella sativa exhibited to have many biological effects. Several beneficial effects of TQ such as its antidiabetic, antioxidant, anticancer, hypolipidemic, and anti-inf...
Dietary isoflavones, the modulator of breast carcinogenesis: Current landscape and future perspectives
Breast cancer is a frightful disease and serious concern in women around the world causing significant health care burden in both developed and developing countries. Extensive research work has shown that breast cancer p...
Occurrence of Chlamydia spp. in wild birds in Thailand
Objective: To determine the occurrence of Chlamydia spp. in wild birds in Thailand. Methods: Cloacal and tracheal swabs of 313 wild birds from 11 orders, 27 families, and 51 species were tested to determine the occurrenc...
Time-kill kinetics and biocidal effect of Euclea crispa leaf extracts against microbial membrane
Objective: To evaluate antimicrobial potential of the fractions partitioned from Euclea crispa leaf extract and determination of their impact on cell membrane disruption. Methods: Antimicrobial potentials were evaluated...
Annona muricata: Is the natural therapy to most disease conditions including cancer growing in our backyard? A systematic review of its research history and future prospects
Annona muricata (A. muricata) is a tropical plant species belonging to family Annonaceae and known for its many medicinal uses. This review focuses on the research history of its traditional uses, phytochemicals, pharmac...