Changing Prevalence of Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases in the UK - Report Example

Changing prevalence of communicable and non-communicable diseases in the UK Earth’s environment not only facilitated formation of larger life forms like humans, animals, etc, but also smaller or even micro life forms like various microorganisms. These microorganisms include both the sterile ones and importantly the disease causing ones. The disease causing microorganisms also got originated and importantly evolved or is evolving due to the changing environment, and also due to changing social and personal lives of the humans. When these disease causing organisms evolve, diseases also evolve or change, leading to various impaction and reactions on the humans. Apart from these microorganisms caused diseases, there are certain lifestyle related diseases, which are also changing with passage of time. These types of diseases can be divided into communicable and non-communicable diseases based on whether they can be transmitted or not. Both these types of diseases are changing or evolving, and so this paper will discuss the changes of these diseases from 1800’ to the present day. Communicable diseases Communicable diseases are clinical illness caused by the entry and presence of pathogenic microorganisms as well as microbial agents, which includes viruses, bacteria, fungi, multicellular parasites and even anomalous proteins called prions. The main characteristic of these infectious pathologies is that they are transmissible from one person to another, thus leading to the initiation of various diseases and then becoming contagious or even endemic. With the onset of Industrial revolution in the early 1800s, United Kingdom witnessed heavy activity in all spheres of life from industries, agriculture to the life in the streets. As people indulged in heavy migration due to increased livelihood activities, the diseases also evolved and changed to more threatening forms. That is, when the British population was scattered, all the communicable diseases only affected certain segments of the population, and so it maximally controlled. However, with migration, there was high movement and interaction (including physical interaction) of people, which led to overcrowding and poor sanitation, causing the infection and spread of many diseases. Some of the diseases which were prominently affecting the people were Cholera, typhoid, measles and tuberculosis. “Death rates were high, and far worse in cities than in the countryside. Smallpox, typhus and tuberculosis were endemic, and cholera alarmingly epidemic. Overcrowding combined with poor sanitation and often grinding poverty to leave many people vulnerable to the latest outbreak of anything nasty.” (Robinson 2010). So, the Industrial revolution, which started in 1800’s and continued till the first half of the 20th century impacted the way diseases and its effects changed. Among the many diseases, Cholera, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, was highly communicable or transmissible at that time. Cholera epidemic affected many lives in the 1800s, particularly in the years 1832, 1848 and 1854. It was John Snow, a London Physician, who had an idea that it was water communicable disease and is spreading throughout London as well as other parts of UK because of a contaminated water pump in central London. “This time he provided conclusive proof by mapping out the cases in Soho, central London, implicating a single, contaminated well. The epidemic subsided soon after the pumps handle was removed.” (Robinson 2010). This finding only led the disease to change or evolve, as the corrective measures led to its minimization. That is, when it was found that the Cholera is mainly transmitting through contaminated water, the authorities with the passing of the Public Health Act of 1848 cleaned many contaminated water facilities, and on a whole improved the hygiene and sanitation of many public places in UK. With those measures, it was controlled through the 20th century and nowadays, Cholera is maximally controlled, with chances of it arising mainly during times of flood. However, there is a view, that global warming and the El Nino effects are spurring new cases of Cholera. Small Pox is the another major disease, which raised its ‘ugly head’ in the 1800’s and till the last three decades of the 1900’s. Like Cholera in affected people en-masse, with maximum of them ending in fatalities. However, this disease also changed with the development of effective vaccines by Edward Jenner. With continuous small pox immunization programs throughout United Kingdom, this disease was eventually eradicated not only in UK, but also all around the world. Measles is another communicable disease, which affected the UK citizens throughout both the centuries, with effective cure being developed only in 1980’s. In the present day, this disease is not making major impact, and appears to be dormant. “In 1988, the MMR vaccine was introduced…combination of high vaccine coverage and an MMR catch-up program for children aged 2–4 years …had a large impact in reducing the transmission of measles, and little infection was documented in the early 1990s.” (Vyse et. al 2002). Although, AIDS did not originate in the 1800’s and evolved mainly in the 1980’s, it is one of the most dangerous communicable diseases of current times, which is changing its impacts mainly in the negative direction. It mainly arose among the haemophiliacs, and it changed its demography of infection in the 1990s. A study in 1990, found that one fifth of gay and bisexual men attending GUM (Genito-Urinary Medicine) clinics in London were infected with HIV. (avert.org). There is continuous increase in the number as well as changes in the demography of AIDS victims throughout 2000’s with 2006 study showing that 62 injecting drug users were now found to be HIV positive, compared to one in 110 in 2002. (avert.org). So, it is clear that all the major communicable diseases are undergoing changes due to the changes in the earth’s environment as well as the personal and social changes of the humans. Non-communicable diseases Non-communicable diseases or NCD for short, are mainly caused due to the risk factors like people unfavorable lifestyle, flawed genetics as well as contaminated external environment. Although, negative changes occur within the body as part of these diseases, no pathogen enters the body to cause it and so it is not contagious or transmissible to others. Because of its non-communicable nature, it did not reach epidemic proportions both in the early centuries as well as now. As mentioned above, these diseases are caused mainly due to individuals’ own discrepancies like living a sedentary life, eating unhealthy food, using tobacco, alcohol, drugs, etc and finally depending on machines and automations, without carrying out any physical actions. Although, some of these discrepancies could have been carried out by British people in the 1800’s and early 1900’s, it was not widespread. As people in those times had to continuously work for their livelihood without any option of sedentary lifestyle, move from one place to another through physical effort and eat mainly natural food, these non-communicable diseases did not affect the population in large numbers. Thus, throughout 1800s and during the first part of the 1900’s, there was only miniscule number of non-communicable diseases, with communicable diseases only appearing to be a major scourge. Then in the later part of the 20th century only, non-communicable diseases started to make a major negative impact on the lives of the people “For centuries infectious diseases were the main causes of death worldwide…In the 19th century public health measures, basic hygiene and antiseptics marked the beginning of a way to counter the scourge…But then came the inexorable rise of non-infectious diseases. Ischaemic heart disease and cancers became the scourges of the West.” (Alberti 2001). The non-communicable diseases, which are mainly affecting the people in UK as well as other countries, are heart disease, cancer, diabetes, asthma, etc. These diseases mainly originated or affected in high numbers in the second half of 20th century, as industrialization and the resultant technology advancement and modernization gave many ‘comforts’ to the people, leading them to live unfavorable and unhealthy lifestyle. “In the 1960s and 1970s concerns developed about the rise of diseases such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and colon and breast cancer as important causes of mortality and morbidity in the western world” (Pollard 2008). Although, initiated minimally, these diseases started taking gigantic proportions, affecting a large of number of people. As these diseases are mainly visible among the people in Western or Advanced countries like UK, these diseases are sometimes known as “diseases of affluence” (Pollard 2008). So, it is clear that changes in the earth’s environment and people’s lifestyle in the past two centuries changed the diseases or disease causing microorganisms, and clearly impacted its evolution. In the 1800’s and early 1900’s, the focus was mainly on communicable diseases, but from the second half of the 20th century till present day, the priorities have changed to non-communicable diseases, with optimum measures being formulated to treat the increasing number of non-communicable disease sufferers. References Alberti, G 2001, Noncommunicable diseases: tomorrows pandemics, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, vol.79, no.10, viewed on October 29, 2010 http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?pid=S0042-96862001001000002&script =sci_arttext&tlng=en avert.org, History of HIV & AIDS in the UK 1981-1995, viewed on October 29, 2010 http://www.avert.org/uk-aids-history.htm Pollard, TM 2008, Western Diseases: An Evolutionary Perspective, viewed on October 29, 2010 http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item5708327/?site_locale=en_GB Robinson, B 2010, Victorian Medicine - From Fluke to Theory, viewed on October 29, 2010 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/victorian_medicine_01.shtml Vyse, AJ et. al 2002, Evolution of Surveillance of Measles, Mumps, and Rubella in England and Wales: Providing the Platform for Evidence-based Vaccination Policy, Epidemiologic Reviews, vol.24, no. 2,pp. 125-136, viewed on October 29, 2010 http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/content/24/2/125.full Read More