Dear Simon,
If you mean conditions that make it SCIENTIFICALLY feasible to eradicate a disease, they include: epidemiologic vulnerability, availability of an effective and practical intervention, demonstrated feasibility of elimination, and a disease that has been documented to have been eliminated from an island or other geographic unit could be a candidate for eradication.
However, even if it is scientifically feasible to eradicate a disease, there are NONSCIENTIFIC conditions that must be considered, such as: perceived burden of the disease, expected cost of eradication, synergy of eradication efforts with other interventions, and necessity for eradication rather than control.
Best wishes,
Ilya
Not quite the elimination you are after but on a smaller scale it might be worth looking at disease surveillance and management prioritisation studies, an example attached below. Be it wildlife or human disease, the presence/absence/manageability of a disease reservoir must be an important factor!
Article Prioritisation of wildlife pathogens to be targeted in Europ...
The following are as comprehensive as I've come across:
Chapter 5-7 in the report of the Ernst Struengmann forum on disease eradication (Disease Eradication in the 21st Century: Implications for Global Health, edited by Stephen L. Cochi and Walter R. Dowdle)
The eradication of infectious diseases : report of the Dahlem Workshop on the Eradication of Infectious Diseases, Berlin, March 16-22, 1997, edited by W.R. Dowdle and D.R. Hopkins. Particularly the chapter by Ottesen et al.
Agree with Chris, 'Disease Eradication in the 21st century' http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/disease-eradication-21st-century is the go-to text.
Today's scenario may not be same after a time lapse. So, starting with the vision of "Disease eradication in the 21st century" is a good idea.
Dear Prof Simon,
I found the following publication (page 23-27) helpful. It is from the CDC, MMWR: Global Disease Elimination and Eradication as Public Health Strategies. Here is the link http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/other/mm48su01.pdf
Hi Simon,
I'm not sure eradication should be addressed in a generic way. The key question may be the reduction of disease burden to a bearable level in an affordable way. This will be highly disease and resource dependent.
Guy
WHO scientists wanted to eradicate Malaria from the planet earth. Though few, like Colonel Afridi , then Director Malaria Institute of India, and his Deputy Director Colonel Jaswant Singh, opposed this approached. After their retirement Who launched a pilot project to eradicate malaria from the island country Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The philosophy was simple: firsrly, to reduce the population of malaria vector species through the application of insecticides pressure so that contact between men and mosquitoes is interrupted and secondly, to treat all people suffering from any species of Plasmodium. The pilot project had been declared “successful”. Among jubilations the Malaria Eradication Programme (MEP) has been launched globally. Alas the happiness was short lived. Malaria epidemics started sprouting in Sri Lanka 5-6 latter. Blame game started. When I visited Sri Lanka, and toured the island, I found that there were many inaccessable habitats, which could not be covered by the treatment teams. The reasons were obvious. The reduction of vector population through application of insecticides was easy to achieve. But treating all patients harbouring Plasmodium spp. required a 100% efficiency – 99.999999 wont do. We know that primary and secondary host of human Plasmodia is Homo sapiens. MEP failed globally and replaced by Malaria Control Programme (MCP). The only way to control a vector borne disease like Malaria or Dengue is to control or eradicate the vector.
Up to date only one disease (as far as I know) - Small pox – has been eradicated successfully. It was possible after we found that the disease is transmitted through man to man contact
Is eradication of any vector species feasible and/or possible? My considered opinion is NO. In Pakistan we have Malaria at altitude of ca 4000 meter above tree line. The vector species is Anopheles superpictus, which has only one life cycle per year and larvae survive in icy cold water. Can we eradicate Aedes aegypti, which glues her eggs in any odd place where once water was present and where water will come again. In that hope eggs survive in cold and hot weather for years. God save mosquitoes, which inhabited this planet much earlier than mankind.
Single publication will never be able to cover the issue "Disease eradication in the 21st century" at different points. Because disease research is still not conclusive at many points. Research is going on to identify different aspects including host genotype. Therefore, it will be continuing process and will be modulated as per objective and demand of the society.
Hola Simon, creo que hasta que no nos abramos a la posibilidad de ver a la persona como un ente Biopsicosocioespiritual, el abordaje bien sea desde las tres primeras esperas, involucra más a los proveedores de salud y deja casi por fuera al paciente, sus creencias, su mundo espiritual, la forma como se conecta con la naturaleza circundante. En este sentido, nuestras propuestas desde "Parcelas de conocimiento" deben ampliarse y involucrar a la persona que en primer lugar, solicita le sea devuelta su salud por los medios de la ciencia. Hoy en día existen muchas investigaciones donde se ha demostrado que cuando la persona trabaja conjuntamente con el especialista, su mundo se abre a nuevas posibilidades, facilitando los medios en todas sus esferas para la comprensión del fenómeno de la enfermedad. Así que en la actualidad, uno de los criterios que podría ayudar a la comunidad científica, es el reconocimiento mediante el trato digno como persona capaz, del agente activo que solicita el servicio a los proveedores de salud.
Thank you all for your collective thoughts and useful suggestions. The books identified by Christopher Stone were particularly helpful. I also found various chapters in -Yekutiel, P. (1980). Eradication of Infectious Diseases: a critical study. S. Karger, Basel - extremely helpful, if a little tricky to source.
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