Recession may spread infectious diseases

March 11, 2009 – 1:39 pm by Colette Pilkus

With the recession hitting the public health system even harder, budget cuts have left the system under funded by about $20 billion, and, according to some reports, experts are concerned that there are more than five exotic diseases that may become more common in the United States.

According to MSNBC, the five tropical diseases that public health experts are concerned about are Leishmaniasis, Chagas, Dengue, Malaria, and Chikungunya. Leishmaniasis is caused by a protozoa spread through sand fly bites. There are two drugs in development for visceral leishmaniasis, Sitamaquine in Phase II trials in Europe and iCo-009 in preclinical development in the United States. AmBisome, approved in 1997, is also intended to treat visceral leishmaniasis.

Chagas, according to experts, is a growing problem in the U.S. There are no know statistics of infection rates, but estimates are between 100,000 to 200,000 in the U.S. Those infected with the parasite may not have any symptoms and about 30% of those infected may suffer life-threatening conditions, such as heart failure. Chagas is curable if and when symptoms first appear, through drugs from the CDC, although the drugs can have just as severe side effects, such as Steven-Johnson Syndrome (a fatal dermatological condition).

In 1780, Philadelphia had an outbreak of the Dengue disease and Hawaii has also had outbreaks throughout the years. Dengue, also referred to as break-bone fever for the severe joint pain that appears with the disease, is spread through mosquitoes. There are no approved vaccines or drugs for the treatment of the disease, but there are about five vaccines in development from preclinical to Phase II clinical trials indicated to treat Dengue.

Malaria, spread by mosquitoes, was believed to be wiped out, but in 1999 two people in New York were diagnosed with it and in 2003 eight cases were found in Florida. It can be treated with drugs, but the parasites have developed a resistance to them. There are numerous drugs approved to treat malaria, including Plaquenil, Malarone, Lariam, and Halfa.

Chikungunya, also transmitted by mosquitoes, is a viral illness that causes headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, and joint pain. So far there haven’t been any confirmed cases of transmission in the U.S., which is a good thing since there’s no treatment for the disease. 

Tags: AmBisome, infectious diseases, recession