Infectious Diseases

Written by, Sean Adams

Bless you, gesundheit, phrases we all hear too often, may be used dramatically less in the
future. Dr. William Schaffner, Professor of Medicine and Preventative Medicine at Vanderbilt
University, hosted the 4th annual Shaw Lecture on March 25th, 2015. These lectures intersect
with many disciplines but this years lecture was focused on medicine, entitled, Emerging
Infectious Diseases: A Global Challenge.

The worlds merging population, movement of people into closer contact with animals and
insects, frequency of global travel, globalization of food supply, and the immense capacity of
change in microorganisms are the main causes of infectious diseases according to Schaffner.

Influenza, an annual epidemic, is the disease of diseases. Its the most feared disease amongst
infectious disease doctors in terms of worldwide sickness according to Schaffner.

Influenza is a kind of friend of ours, were all too familiar with it, it shows up every year but
even in the United States it causes an enormous amount of illness. On average, there are over
200,000 excess hospitalizations and depending upon the severity of the influenza season, 4,000
to 40,000 excess deaths each year. said Schaffner.

The influenza virus has the ability to genetically change which is a key element of its ferocity.
This constant change requires a constant source of new vaccinations for every individual strand
of influenza according to Schaffner. As they say, if youve seen one influenza season, youve
seen one influenza season, said Schaffner.

A disease that has caused widespread panic, Ebola, was previously only known to infectious
disease doctors and the public health community according to Schaffner. They only knew about
it as a rare infection in central Africa among remote villages, which is where it first infected
people.

Schaffner said Ebola originates within large fruit bats and can also spread to other animals such
as great apes and forest antelopes.

So how do people catch it? The answer, Schaffner said, is very rarely and accidentally. People
in many parts of Africa are very modest in means, they may get protein by going out and hunting
bush meat (the meat of wild African animals). said Schaffner. So, according to Schaffner, the
strongest theory for acquiring Ebola from fruit bats is that the people hunting these animals may
have accidentally cut themselves with their previously used hunting tools.

Once Ebola reaches the human population it can spread personally. West Africa was the first
urbanized place where people caught this disease according to Schaffner. When the initial virus

occurred in West Africa there was a large delay in proper diagnosis since the disease was so rare
in people, thus causing this disease to spread at a substantially quicker pace, according to
Schaffner.

After thorough explanation of Ebolas roots, Schaffner then rhetorically asked the big question
that the sweating audience was wondering, Will Ebola come here? I can provide 100%
assurance that Ebola will not establish itself in the United States.

However, Schaffer said, we must care for other countries because although it will not establish
itself here, it is a big problem in other countries and can still affect people in the United States as
well. Im sure it will take another year for the outbreak to close. said Schaffner.

Schaffner said that the life expectancy of people has dramatically increased over the past
hundred years due to the increased knowledge of prevention and treatment for infectious
diseases.

Vaccination, clean water, sewage disposal and treatment, and improved housing have all been
major factors contributing to the reduction in infectious diseases.

Of these factors, Schaffner was most passionate about vaccination, There is unwarranted fear
that vaccines have adverse effects, and youve all heard about that myth that vaccines are

associated with autism in children. Malarkey, doesnt exist, scientifically incorrect, some parents
are lured by the natural way, but, if you are not with the program you put your children at risk
along with other children. said Schaffner.

Schaffner closed his lecture by saying, The world is small, infectious diseases do not need
passports. The response is strength, strong education, strong research, strong diagnostics, clinical
care, public health, vaccination, do it all, do it constantly.