Global epidemics of horrors 2015

Ebola and MERS-CoV are two outbreaks that spread in many countries spreading fear to the world during the year.

Achieving many important achievements in 2015, world medicine also faced numerous challenges in controlling and treating diseases. Below are the dangerous infectious diseases noticeable in 2015.

Ebola translation

Starting from March 2014 to the end of 2015, the Ebola outbreak that appeared in West Africa and quickly broke out became the most dangerous in the history of this disease since it was first discovered in 1976. Later 20 months, the World Health Organization recorded 28,637 cases from 6 countries: Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, the United States and Mali, of which 11,315 deaths. According to the BBC, the number of deaths due to this pandemic is five times higher than other outbreaks combined.

After nearly 2 years, the Ebola epidemic has not been completely erased.(Photo: AFP).

To date, most countries have been out of danger. The last patient in Guinea was discharged on November 28, the country will be declared quarantined if no new cases are detected after 42 days. However, experts judged that it is not subjective because Ebola is still very unpredictable. In October this year, the Ebola virus revived in the body of a British nurse nurse has been cured to raise concerns about the possibility of relapse. Liberia once reported escaping twice but was attacked again and is entering the third cycle of 42 days countdown.

Scientists are continuing to research and test the Ebola vaccine after obtaining satisfactory results in Guinea and Sierra Leone.

MERS-CoV fluids

MERS or Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome is a respiratory disease caused by a new type of coronavirus called coronavirus Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) data, since the first appearance in September 2012, MERS has attacked 26 countries, causing 1,621 people to get sick and at least 584 deaths.

MERS has not shown signs of stopping when October, the last infected case in Korea was relapsed after the end of the government's declaration in August. In November, the United Arab Emirates discovered 2 out of 3 patients. MERS has just died, raising the death toll in this area to 486.

MERS does not have vaccines yet. WHO director Margaret Chan said that new medicine "made very small steps" on the path to finding a cure for the disease.

Dengue fever outbreak

Dengue fever is an acute viral infection caused by mosquitoes that can cause complications leading to death. WHO identified a 30-fold increase in the rate of dengue in the last 50 years with about 50-100 million cases a year in more than 100 countries, putting nearly half of the world's population at risk.

Dengue patients are being cared for in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).(Photo: Flickr).

This year, dengue fever is more complicated due to the effects of El Nino. Since January, the Brazilian Ministry of Health recorded 229 deaths on a total of 746,000 cases of dengue. In Southeast Asia, outbreaks caused 142,227 people infected, 441 died in the Philippines and 107,079 people were infected, 293 died in Malaysia.

Many rich countries are also unable to escape dengue. In November, Hawaii detected 146 infected people. This is considered the worst dengue epidemic in the United States for more than 60 years, since the Second World War.

The good news is that recently, Mexico has approved the world's first dengue fever vaccine called Dengvaxia. Dengvaxia is expected to repel the spread of dengue and save tens of millions of dollars in medical expenses.

HIV AIDS

Over the past time, the world has achieved encouraging results in combating HIV / AIDS. From 2000 to 2015, the number of new HIV infections decreased by 35% and the AIDS-related death rate dropped by 24% with 7.8 million lives saved. This year, 16 million HIV patients have been treated with ARV and have a healthy life.

However, HIV continues to be a global problem when there are still 37 million people living with the virus and 21 million people have not yet received medical care. In particular, in 2015, the world occurred many cases of HIV infection stemming from unconsciousness and carelessness of people: 170 people infected with the virus after sharing needles in Indiana (USA) in June, The "doctor" without a degree in Cambodia re-used dirty needles that caused hundreds of Roka villagers to become infected with HIV in October, actor Charlie Seen was suspected of spreading HIV to dozens of partners because of hiding illnesses and relationships. unsafe sex.

TB

Being a treatable disease, TB has become a leading threat to human health across HIV / AIDS. In 2014, the disease claimed the lives of 1.5 million people, mainly concentrated in China, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.

TB is competing with HIV to become the leading cause of death in the world.(Photo: Popsci).

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warn the world is struggling to cope with drug-resistant forms of TB. For every 100 new cases of TB, there are 3 cases that cannot be treated with antibiotics and if there is no specific action, a multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patient will not have the opportunity to be diagnosed and treated.

In addition, WHO recommends that caution should be exercised with toxic food. Every year, 600 million people worldwide suffer from health problems related to poor sanitation, including 420,000 deaths, most of them children. More dangerous, these diseases tend to increase in severity, for example, the B-group streptococcus outbreak in Singapore at the end of November only affects patients with weak immune systems that attack these healthy people.