Disease in evolution. Introduction

Health ecology and environmental management in Mozambique

A health ecology approach to infectious disease incidence recognises that the weighting and interconnectivity of influences on health vary in terms of nature and context, from place to place and over time. It helps explain inherent limitations in the prediction and management of major infectious disease events and consequently why victims of ill health and policy often lack appropriate strategies for disease avoidance and health disaster mitigation. With reference to ongoing research in Mozambique, the paper uses the approach for assessment of health insecurity and to provide a realistic framework for management of complex disease hazards.

Contemporary global movement of emerging plant diseases

Plant diseases are a significant constraint to agricultural productivity. Exotic plant diseases pose a continued threat to profitable agriculture in the United States. The extent of this threat has increased dramatically in the 1980s and 1990s due to the expansion of international trade in agricultural products and frequent movement of massive volume of people and goods across national boundaries. Introduction of new diseases has not only caused farm losses, but has also diminished export revenue since phytosanitary issues are linked to international commerce. Plant pathogens and their vectors have also moved across national boundaries, sometimes naturally and at other times influenced by the recent changes in trade practices. Sorghum ergot, Karnal bunt of wheat, potato late blight, and citrus tristeza are some of the most recent examples of enhanced importance of diseases due to the introduction of plant pathogens or vectors.

Emerging and reemerging infectious diseases: a multidisciplinary perspective

Predictions that infectious diseases would be eliminated as a major threat to human health have been shattered by emerging and reemerging infections, among them acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), hemorrhagic fevers, marked increases in infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, and the resurgence of tuberculosis and malaria. Understanding the dynamics of emerging and reemerging infections is critical to efforts to reduce the morbidity and mortality of such infections, to establish policy related to preparedness for infectious threats, and for decisions on where to use limited resources in the fight against infections. In order to offer a multidisciplinary perspective, 23 infectious disease specialists, epidemiologists, geneticists, microbiologists, and population biologists participated in an open forum at Emory University on emerging and reemerging infectious diseases. As summarized below, the group addressed questions about the definition, the identification, the factors responsible for, and multidisciplinary approaches to emerging and reemerging infections.