INFECTIOUS diseases are common among people living in unclean, polluted environment. Dirty environment is favourable for germs and germ carriers. The more polluted the environment, the more chance for the outbreak of infectious diseases. Environmental pollution, the low quality of life, lack of nutritious food, the ignorance of health awareness, the lack of standards of food preparation, serving and consumption lead Bangladesh towards a sanctuary for infectious diseases.
The changing environment also plays a helpful role in protecting the existence of germs and carriers. As for infectious diseases, there is a harmonious relationship between the carrier and the environment of the carrier, germs and the host. If the environmental factors are favourable to the carriers, just as the carriers can easily carry germs, the germs can also easily replicate themselves, increasing the severity of the disease and increasing the death rate. It is, therefore, important to understand the relationship. In Bangladesh, with the change in seasons, environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity, sunlight intensity, wind speed, etc vary. Because of such variations, the reproduction of carriers sometimes accelerates and the rate of infection of the germ increases.
Similarly, just as environmental pollution helps in increasing the activity or number of germs, it also greatly reduces the immunity or ability of humans to fight against pathogens. Everyone should realise this and take appropriate measures. In that case, all stakeholders should fulfil the responsibilities assigned to them responsibly. At the same time, we must increase our awareness and involvement. We must remember that if we cannot protect ourselves from being infected, we will have to suffer a lot. In cases of specific infectious diseases, we must, therefore, follow all the rules and regulations as per the guidelines of the World Health Organisation and prepared based on our own environmental structure. For an example, in the transmission of dengue virus from one person to another, the role of the vector is the main one. Therefore, to protect ourselves from this carriers, we must know about the reproductive process of Aedes mosquitoes, ie the life cycle or stages of the life cycle.
We must have a clear idea of the life cycle and breeding grounds of the Aedes mosquito. Only if we know the behaviour, morphology or external structure of the body, the type of egg-laying, the place and the time of contact with the host and sensitivity, etc, it will be possible to control the dengue carrier. Dengue prevention will actually be possible by controlling the dengue carrier. Dengue has now spread from cities to remote villages. The two species of Aedes mosquitoes that carry dengue, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, are spread dengue simultaneously. The density of Aedes aegypti in cities and Aedes albopictus in remote areas is increasing significantly with the pre-monsoon and monsoon Aedes mosquitoes of 2024.
The presence of Aedes aegypti is especially high and worrying in artificial breeding sites such as coconut palms, flooded floors of under-construction buildings, stagnant water, containers, tyres, or water pumps of multi-storey buildings. The density of Aedes albopictus in natural breeding sources is increasing at an alarming rate. Similarly, both species continue to carry the dengue virus. That is why it has become important to determine the density of infected mosquitoes in cities and rural areas. The issue is simple. The means of communication is easy, as a result of which the movement of a dengue infected person is easy. The dengue virus is moving to rural areas easily.
Vertical spread, ie the spread from one generation to another, is a natural process. This is further accelerated by the lack of proper contact tracing. If the real address of the infected patient cannot be completely done, the infected mosquito will spread the dengue virus without any hindrance. In this case, as the number of infected people increases, the number of infected mosquitoes increases in the same way.
In this situation, awareness and coordinated initiatives are needed along with the actual history of the patient. It is, therefore, important to ensure the participation of stakeholders in areas.
Nipah virus that infects people in the winter can be dealt with by protecting raw date juice from bats. Half-eaten fruits by bats should never be eaten. The spread of infectious diseases is not as easy as it can be in developed countries. Therefore, there is no alternative to awareness creation. As there is an abundance of disease organisms or pathogens, the abundance and activity of carriers is widespread. The spread of water-borne, air-borne and food-borne infectious diseases increases at a rapid rate. Now, the amount of dust particles in the air pollution, especially in Dhaka, not only spread infectious diseases, but also play a leading role in spreading non-communicable diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, lung cancer, stroke, heart diseases and many other serious diseases.
In this, the out-of-pocket expenditure of the people is increasing abnormally. A study has showed that there are two main reasons for the extreme poverty of the people of Bangladesh. One is litigation, which constitutes social expenses, and the other is medical expenses. In the changing environment, if we cannot prevent diseases and germs with awareness and unity, infectious diseases will continue to emerge and re-emerge.
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Dr Md Golam Sharower is a professor and head of the entomology department at the National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine.
