DISEASES AND DISASTERS IN

21st CENTURY

BY: Tarkeshwar Thakur

 SWINE FLU
Swine Flu (also called H1N1 flu, influenza, hog flu,and pig flu)
is an infection by any one of several types of swine flu virus.
Swine flu virus (SIV) is any strain of the influenza family of
viruses that is endemic in pigs. Swine flu is an infection
caused by a virus. It’s named for a virus that pigs can get.
People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections
can and do happen. The virus is contagious and can spread
from human to human.
Recently H1N1 Swine Flu hitting the entire world. People with
regular exposure to pigs are at increased risk of swine flu
infection. The meat of an infected animal poses no risk of
infection when properly cooked.
Swine flu can spreads from person to person (like a normal
flu) through touching something with flu virus on it ( from
droplets from a cough or sneeze) and then touching your
mouth or nose. So, personal health care is very important to
prevent Swine flu or other common diseases.

Sign and symptoms of Swine Flu:

Its similar to symptoms of regular human flu and includes-
*Fever
*Body aches
*Cough and sore throat
*Headache
*Fatigue
*Chills
What can we do to protect ourself from getting sick?
*Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or
sneeze and throw away the tissue in the dustbin after you use it.
*Wash your hand often with soap and water, especially after your
cough or sneeze. Alcohol based hand cleaners are also effective.
*Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
*Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
*If you get sick with influenza, it is recommended to stay home
from work and limit contact with others to keep from infecting
them.
What should you do if you get sick?
*if you live in areas where swine flu cases have been identified
and become ill with flu like symptoms, contact your doctor. The
doctor will determine if flu-testing or treatment is needed.
*If you become ill and experience any of the following seek
emergency medical care:
 Infectious Diseases in the 21st Century

 Infectious diseases have always caused illness and death, but

in the last decade, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has noticed
a disturbing trend: The number of new infectious agents has
been on the rise. These include the West Nile virus, monkey
pox and hantavirus

 In addition, diseases once thought to be nearly wiped out, such

as measles, mumps, pertussis and malaria, have reappeared.
The spread of sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis,
once slowed, now appears to be accelerating again.
 According to the IOM, there are several reasons for this trend,
but the prime reason is a change in our way of life. Here are
ways that the world in the 21st century has changed, making it
easier for humans and microbes to meet:

 Microbes by nature adapt to their environment and rapidly

evolve. This makes it more difficult to create vaccines and can
lead microbes to develop resistance to treatments. Careless use
of antibiotics, a widespread problem in the United States, also
allows microbes to develop resistance.
 People become more susceptible to infection when their body's
defense mechanisms are weakened. This can be caused by
genetically inherited traits, other diseases and malnutrition.
 Climate and weather also affect people's exposure to disease.

The warming of the world's climate means that diseases

such as malaria that have not been common in the
United States will become more frequent
 Population growth increases the spread of infectious disease as
people come in closer contact with one another.
 Behaviors such as illegal drug use, tattooing and body piercing
increase the possible exposure to diseases.
 Growth of medical technology, such as blood transfusions and
organ transplants, has created new paths for the spread of
infections.
 Experts say slowing aging is way to fight diseases
in
21st century
A group of aging experts from the United States and the United
Kingdom suggest that the best strategy for preventing and
fighting a multitude of diseases is to focus on slowing the
biological processes of aging.
"The traditional medical approach of attacking individual diseases
-- cancer, diabetes, heart disease-- will soon become less
effective if we do not determine how all of these diseases either
interact or share common mechanisms with aging,"
Further research in laboratory models is expected to provide clues
and deeper understanding of how existing interventions, such
as exercise and good nutrition, may lead to lifelong well-being.
Disaster Health Management
 The 21st century faced new challenges of natural disasters;
climate changes cause death and diseases through extreme
weather such as heat waves, floods and draughts. The South-
East Asia Region is prone to the effects of climate change
whereby tornados and floods render many homeless and
vulnerable to epidemic outbreaks of cholera and diarrhea
diseases. Droughts predispose populations to famine and
malnutrition due to scarcity of water and food.
Normally, Myanmar enjoys pleasant weather of summer, rainy
and winter seasons. For many decades, Myanmar had been
spared of national disasters. The Tsunami of 2004 affected
only a few villages in the coastal area and the loss and
damages were minimal compared to other affected areas such
as Sri Lanka and Thailand.
An Effective Early Warning System for the 21st Century

"The time has come to create an effective early

warning system for disasters"
 Specific Necessary Elements are required to meet the Prime
Directive for an effective Early Warning System.
All of these elements must be in place and work in
combination;
The primary delivery method for warning signals must be
wireless (R/F), point to multipoint.
 Transmission of early warnings must be done by the most
reliable method possible during disasters.
 Landlines (Public Switched Network) do not have real time
capacity or robustness required for directed real time warnings
to large numbers of users during disasters.
 Internet related (Ethernet) systems are subject to overload,
power failures, and significant latency (delays) during
disasters.
Receiving devices must be always capable of receiving early warning
transmissions.
 Receiving devices must always be capable of receiving a signal to
initiate immediate mitigation response.
 R/F signal must have priority access over other transmissions with
priority overrides and short burst packets.
 Receivers must have battery power capability during times of power
interruptions.

System must include a wide variety of receiving devices capable of

generating both human and automated responses.
 Different disasters require different levels and types of responses.
 Some disasters such as earthquakes have very short warning times
requiring completely automated responses between sensors,
activators, and a hierarchy of controlling computers.
 Human responses need to be backed up when human responses are
not available, reliable, or effective. E.g. people sleep, may be
unavailable, forget responses, or simply ignore warnings.
System must eliminate false or failed warnings.
 Elimination of false warnings maximizes authenticity of

warnings when received.

 Effective warnings require those warned to have a high degree

of belief that their life and/or property are in danger so that

warnings are not ignored. When warned, they respond.
 Warnings must be sent only to those users in actual danger

from a disaster event in progress.