Emerging Viral Diseases - Research Paper Example

The modification of the given genetic makeup of the host has also contributed to make them susceptible to diseases (Beltz 19). The disease causing viral agents have also modified their genetic makeup to increase their survival in the host’s system. Human behavior can also be attributed to the cause of the emergence and re-emergence of viral diseases. Human behavior such as urbanization, population increase, and migration lead to spread of diseases (Beltz 136). As people begin to occupy previously uninhabited areas, they get exposed to new environmental sources of infectious viral agents.

Changes in food handling, storage, and processing by humans has also led to new spread (Beltz 145). Human advancement in bio warfare also increases the risk of contracting new and emerging disease threats. Ecological factors such as climate change have also led to emergence and re-emergence of new and old diseases (Beltz 162). Climate changes cause shifts in the geographical distribution of disease causing agents and vectors. The shift in climatic conditions causes the agents to inhabit new regions causing diseases.

Public health response to emerging and re-emerging diseases is vital in controlling and eliminating the threats of the viral agents. The response by public health organizations takes various forms. An enactment of global surveillance systems of the viral diseases is a vital response tool. These surveillance systems contain diagnostic and communication tools that detail disease spread plus its monitoring. Surveillance ensures that public health officials can map out the people affected by the viral disease spread, and how they can undertake their response to stop the disease spread (Beltz 256).

Vaccination also presents a response by public health organs. The development of new drugs also gets carried out to nullify the effect of any emerging viral diseases (Beltz 258). The public health sector can also respond to emerging and re-emerging diseases by conducting public health education. Health education is used as a vital tool to prevent disease spread among the public. Public health officials disseminate health messages concerning the diseases that get spread. The public health sector may also respond by initiating vector and zoonotic control (Beltz 270).

Public health officials may employ the use or develop safe insecticides to trap the disease causing agents. The understanding of the reproductive cycle of HIV and other disease causing viruses is vital in stopping the spread of diseases. Infectious diseases can get prevented at a variety of points dependent on the infectious cycle of the diseases (Beltz 300). Understanding an infectious cycle of a virus is vital to allow for the identification of accessible targets for control strategies. The reproductive cycle of the viruses comes in handy in the development of drugs that alleviate their effect on the host’s body.

Understanding the reproductive cycles of viruses ensures that scientists can identify the points within their life cycles where the viruses are most vulnerable to intervention. This allows the scientists to develop tools such as vaccines and drugs that can fight of the spread of the disease causing viruses in the host’s body. Scientists get to design drugs that are more suppressive of the viruses and have fewer side effects on persons with disease. Understanding the life cycle of disease causing viruses also assists scientists to make predictions about the disease, and