SOCIO- CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH ZOONOTIC PARASITE INFECTION

SOCIO- CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH             ZOONOTIC PARASITE INFECTION

A zoontic disease is a  disease that can be passed between animals and humans. Zoonotic diseases can be caused by viruses, bacteria, parasite, and fungi. These diseases are very common. Scientists estimaes that moer than six out of every ten infectious diseases in humans are spread from animals. Many people interact with animals in their daily lives. We raise animals for food and keep them in our homes as pets. We might come into close contact at a country fair or petting zoo or encounter wildlife when we clear wooded land for new constructions.

The socio- cultural and economic problems associated with zoonotic parasite infections are related under the following sub topics;

Man’s lust for domestic pet and type of occupation

The risk of exposure to zoonotic agents is inherent in the practice of veterinary medicine, while comprising only a small percentage of those with reported  occupational injuries or disease. Veterinary practitioners should remain diligent to protect their own health and that of their staffs. A number of parasites are recognised causes of zoonotic diseases.

 Toxoplasma gondii is a coccidian parasite that is typically associated with cats and with potentially severe congential disease on humans. The vast majority of T. Gondii in cats are subclinical. Clinical diseases is more common in stressed, concurrently ill, or immunocompromised cats and can be manifested as fever, dyspnea, coughing, lymphadenopathy, myalgia, vomiting, diarrhea, icterus, splenomegaly, neurologic abnormalities, retinochoroiditis, or granulomatous panuveitis. (August, et al 1987). Shedding of T. Gongii oocyts appears to be rare in cats. Studies have reported that < 1% of domstic cats shed T.gondii at any point in time. (Hill, et al  2000). It has beeen reported that cat ownerships appears to be a higher risk for veterinarian to seroconvert than is working with cats in practices. (Fox FG, et al  1974).

The main concern regarding T. Gondii is its potential for zoonotic transmission to pregnant women and the development of congential disease. Congential toxoplasma can occur when naive (seronegative) women acquires a primary infection during the 1st and 2nd trimesters of pregnancy, which can result in spontanous abortion, premature birth, encephalitis, or other neutrological abnormalities. To decrease the likelihood of congential toxoplasmosis, the Amercian college of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends preconceptional serolodic testing. (Cunningham, et al  1997). Risk of female veterinary personnel is through oral contact with cat feces. Pregnant women should not handle cat feces and litters.

Deeply rooted cultural practises and traditions

Cultural drivers and health- seeking behaviours that impact on the transmission of pig-association zoonoses in lao people’s Democratic Republic

The lao people’s Democratic Republic (PDR) lies in southeast Asia’s Mekong Region, sharing its borders with China, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. Agriculture is vitally important to leeser- developed economies in the region; the majority of Loa PDR’s setimately 6.9 million people live in rural areas, with agricultural sector employing 82% of labour force in 2003. Like many countriesin the region, livestock production, particularly pig rearng, is an important  ancillary income source in Lao PDR, with smallhorders farmers utilizisng traditional free-range pig production system. Pig production , however, poses a health risk to those relying on this commodities for income , with a number of pig-associated zoonotic disease can impart the exportability of livestock and associated products. Dispite this, little relevant information is available on the sociocultual divers of pig-associated zoonoses in Lao PDR, or indeed, in the wider Southeast Asia region.

The sociocultural knowledge on eight pig-associated zoonoses endemic to Southeast Asia, grouped according to their clinical manifestation im humans to highlight the propensity for underreporting: brucellosis, Q fever (Coxiella burnetii), trichinellosis, hepatitis E virus, leptospirosis, Japanese encephalitis, Streptococcus suis and Taenia solium taeniasis-cysticercosis.

Migration

Once zoonotic disease has emerged, its spread in the human population  is likely to be facilitated by population  movements.Migration, also called long-term population resettlement, is likely to spread disease that have a long period of latency or duration of  infectiousness, whereas short term morbidity for period of days or weeks, typical of “travel” pattern, may rapidly spread diseases with short resolution periods. Population displacements as a result of conflict or natural disaster are likely to create conditions of crowding and poor sanitation that are highly conducive to the spread of infectious diaeases. Human movement has siginficant implications for human and animal health. Not only are travelers ( tourists, bussinespeople, and other workers) at risk of contracting  communicable disease when visiting tropical countries, but they also can act as vectors for delivering infectious diseases to a different region or potentially round the world as in the case of SARS.

Immigrants may come from nations where infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria are endemic and refugees may come from situations where crowding and malnutrition creates ideal conditions for the spread of diseases such as cholera, shigellosis, malaria and measles.(CDC, 1998).