Download Chapter 6: Environmental Health Eradicating a Parasitic Nightmare

Chapter 6: Environmental Health
Eradicating a Parasitic Nightmare: Human Health is Intricately Linked to the Environment
Story Abstract & Additional Information
This chapter discusses how human health is impacted by the environment. Our choices can alter the
environment to either facilitate disease or to reduce its transmission. Infectious diseases are the leading
cause of death in developing nations, while water contamination, land and waterway alteration,
deforestation, and climate change are contributing to these and other health problems. Health can be
improved significantly with better sanitation, access to clean air and water, and public health programs
that reach people in affected areas.
Here are some of the key points in the story for this chapter:
How do the fields of public health and environmental health improve the health of human
populations?
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Public health is a field that deals with the health of human populations as a whole. The goal of
public health programs is to improve the health of human populations through prevention and
treatment of disease. A variety of health professionals work together to achieve this goal. The
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is one such public health group that provides information and
advice on the prevention and treatment of disease. The CDC offers advice each year on how to
combat the current influenza (flu) season: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/flu-season2012-2013.htm The CDC also reported this year that the record high 2012–2013 flu season has
killed a record number of older Americans: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50744229/ns/healthcold_and_flu/#.URwe8R11-Ag
Environmental health is a branch of public health that focuses on potential health hazards in the
natural world and the human-built environment; such hazards include not only factors such as
contaminated water, air, and soil, but also human behaviors—hand washing and water drinking,
for example—that help determine whether those natural factors become hazards or not.
Floodwaters can be an environmental hazard because they provide a habitat for mosquitoes,
the vector for malaria, which kills nearly 1 million people annually. Read about the debate over
using DDT—itself considered to be an environmental hazard—to control the spread of malaria in
Africa, where most malaria deaths occur: http://www.voanews.com/content/african-countriesdebate-using-ddt-in-anti-malaria-efforts--125426193/160321.html Read more about the World
Health Organization (WHO)’s stance on DDT:
http://www.who.int/malaria/publications/atoz/who_htm_gmp_2011/en/index.html
What environmental hazards affect human health?
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Environmental hazards can be broken down into three major categories: biological hazards, such
as infectious agents; physical hazards, such as natural disasters; and chemical hazards, such as
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environmental pollution. In low-income, developing countries, diarrheal and respiratory
infections are the main causes of death in children under 5 years old. In fact, 94% of these
infections are due to poor sanitation and unsafe drinking water. Learn more about infectious
disease statistics from WHO: http://www.who.int/infectious-disease-report/pages/grfindx.html
In developed countries, cardiovascular disease and cancer represent the bulk of the disease
burden. These illnesses are caused by lifestyle choices and industry and vehicle pollution. Read
about a Cornell University study that examined the link between pollution and cancer rates
worldwide: http://cornellsun.com/node/23801 and read an abstract of the study:
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/27654237?uid=2&uid=4&sid=21101784626531 Learn
more about pollution deaths worldwide from WHO:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs313/en/index.html
What can be done to reduce environmentally mediated health problems?
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Addressing modifiable environmental factors such as poor sanitation and unsafe drinking water
could save 2 million people per year from dying of diarrheal and respiratory diseases. Read more
about efforts to reduce diarrheal deaths from the Disease Control Priorities Project:
http://www.dcp2.org/pubs/DCP/19/
China is well known for its smog problem: http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/29/world/asia/chinabeijing-smog Air pollution has gotten so bad lately that one environmentalist has even
suggested putting clean air in a can: http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/07/opinion/sutter-china-aircan But China is not the only country wrestling with this issue. Read about how Mexico City,
once the city with the “world’s worst air,” has drastically reduced its air pollutants:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/31/AR2010033103614.html
Additional information about other topics from this chapter:
Guinea Worm Eradication
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The Guinea worm is a parasite that spends part of its life cycle inside copepods (water fleas) and
part in a human host. Humans are exposed to the parasite when they drink water contaminated
with the water fleas. Because there is no other animal host in which the worm can complete its
life cycle, if we can prevent infection at the source, we can eradicate this problem. Prevention
includes taking steps to purify water and educating people to drink only safe water. Read about
the work by Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center to end this disease:
http://www.cartercenter.org/health/guinea_worm/mini_site/index.html
West Nile Virus
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Environmental changes are believed to play a role in many emerging infectious diseases, such as
West Nile virus, which has rapidly spread from coast to coast since it appeared in the United
States in New York City in 1999. Learn more about how NASA is using temperature and
vegetation data from satellites to monitor the spread of West Nile in North America:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=2172