Infectious Diseases: Synopsis and Methods to Control Them
Technological advancements have made it much easier for several healthcare experts to handle different infectious diseases.
Earlier, it was a challenging task, and managing any infectious diseases in a short period was nearly impossible.
The current advanced technologies have changed the entire healthcare sector. They have been helping experts in numerous ways for handling and managing infectious diseases by providing suitable measures and treatment solutions.
The primary reason behind the emergence of infectious diseases is directly linked to different factors such as population, ecological, trade, and travel factors. However, several technologies exist that help identify such infectious diseases easily and monitor the infection activities in the patient body to take better steps in selecting treatment for the diseases.
So, before moving to methods of controlling infectious diseases, let’s understand what infectious diseases are.
Infectious Diseases- An Overview
Infectious diseases refer to infections caused due to different pathogenic microorganisms such as bacteria, protozoan, virus fungi, and several other parasites.
The infections caused by pathogenic microorganisms can be transmitted by insects, humans, animals, and other agents.
These infectious agents are everywhere and can be found in multiple sizes and shapes.
Infectious organisms are categorized into single-cell organisms such as bacteria and viruses and multiple-cell organisms such as a worm.
Types of Infectious Diseases
There are multiple kinds of infectious diseases found in the environment caused by various pathogens.
Following are two common infectious diseases:
- Viral Infections
Approximately a million types of viruses exist on the Earth, and these viruses are responsible for several viral infections such as influenza, common cold, and many more.
The virus invades the host’s body and starts attaching itself to the place of the cell, where it releases genetic material.
The replicating rate of the cell is much higher. Hence, the virus starts multiplying and infecting new cells after entering the host body.
Some viruses start changing the overall function of the cells instead of destroying or killing them. For instance, Epstein-Barr and Human Papillomavirus virus is responsible for causing uncontrolled cell replications leading to cancer.
- Bacterial Infections
Bacteria are strong enough to survive in any environment, from severe cold to extreme heat and even in radioactive waste.
Bacteria are further categorized into two types, i.e., good bacteria and bad bacteria.
Bad bacteria are responsible for causing diseases such as typhoid, cholera, diphtheria, and tuberculosis. On the other hand, good bacteria help fight bad bacteria and control the diseases mentioned above.
Though bacteria can be treated using different antibiotics, some bacteria cannot be treated easily due to their antibiotic resistance characteristics, resulting in severe diseases that are difficult to treat.
Market Overview of the Europe Infectious Disease Diagnostics
The use of several infectious diseases assays, kits, and different consumables has grown tremendously over the last few decades due to the increasing number of cancer patients and various governments’ initiatives.
As per the BIS Research market report, the Europe infectious disease diagnostics market is expected to grow from $1,394.3 million in 2020 to $7,900.4 million by 2031, growing with a CAGR of 16.48% during the forecast period 2021–2031.
The key factors pushing the market growth are as follows.
- Rising healthcare sector investments to fulfill industry demand
- Increasing adoption of different infectious diseases tubes and kits
However, a few challenges, such as a smaller number of testing centers and a complicated regulatory framework, need to be overcome for faster market growth.
Common Surveillance Methods to Control Infectious Disease
- Remote Sensing Surveillance
Remote sensing is one of the most advanced technologies used to monitor environmental changes, which can help predict different infectious diseases.
The remote sensing method is not only capable of predicting infectious diseases but can also allow tracing different activities related to vectors.
Let’s understand with an example:
The most common malaria transmission in Africa due to the distribution of the species known as Anopheles was controlled using remote sensing surveillance manners.
The information collected through remote sensing allows experts to provide early warnings for diseases to the common public. These early warnings further help prevent a disease from spreading, resulting in epidemic relief.
- Surveillance through Communication
Communication channels are the most effective methods of predicting outbreaks of infectious diseases.
Analyzing the collected data through different social media platforms offers new opportunities and challenges in the process of disease surveillance.
The program uses an algorithm that detects only the data related to diseases caused by food from all the data generated on Twitter. This particular data is then used to analyze food illness challenges.
In addition, mobile applications are also popular for tracking the movements of humans to analyze the paths and dynamics of diseases from one region or one place to another.
Conclusion
Several technological developments in the healthcare sector have helped save millions of lives from different infectious diseases. It would have been much more challenging to discover and examine these conditions without such advanced systems and technologies.
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