NOTES for Week 15

TEXT pp 327-373 Costs and Benefits of Development

This unit fits nicely with events in the news last week. The riots and civil unrest called "the battle in Seattle' highlights the conference held there for the World Trade Organization. It is unfortunate that street violence has obscured the more serious issues at stake:

The World Trade Organization is just one of a burgeoning new force in world economics and politics: Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).

As of 12/04/99, the WTO conference broke off without success. Trade barriers were not lowered; no conference on biotechnology was established, agricultural subsidies remained untouched, and environmental issues remained untouched. The poorest nations, however won zero tariffs on a number of products.

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This chapter is about the effect of modern commercial society on people who live in what is variously called the Third World, or sometimes called LDCs (Lesser Developed Countries). I've taken liberty with the chapter format a bit, but my introduction will guide your reading.

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I. INDUSTRIALIZATION AND HEALTH pp 328-337

Trypanosomiasis, known variously as Sleeping Sickness or Chagas' Disease is a 'disease of development.' The infectious agent is a protozoa. In Africa it is spread by the tsetse fly. Chagas' disease is a South American version spread by Reduviid bugs. There is fever, edema, later coma and death. There is no satisfactory treatment. Why is it a 'disease of development'? The insect vector has been carried to new regions by trucks.

Be sure to read the remainder of the unit, too.

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II. SCHISTOSOMIASIS pp 339-347

This is a visceral parasitic disease by blood flukes. Six species affect humans. It is endemic in Africa, the Middle East, Carribean, South America, and Asia. It affects 200 million people in 76 countries.

The life cycle can become established when there is a susceptible snail species. Portugal had problems with this disease, but eliminated it by eradicating the snails. Any agricultural development involving irrigation with standing water may lead to a marked increase in the problem. This is what happened in Egypt after the Aswan High Dam was built.

This disease is well documented in mummies from Pharonic Egypt more than 3,000 years ago. The disease cycle is initiated when eggs are excreted in urine or feces, the eggs hatch, the free swimming Miracidium penetrates the snail host; sporocysts are released, free swimming Cercariae penetrate human skin and the worms live in the blood vessels of the bladder and intestines for as long as 30 years. The disease is very difficult to cure. See the diagram on page 341.

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III. HEALTH CARE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES pp 347-355

This section is straight-forward reading.

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IV. HEALTH CARE FOR THE DISADVANTAGED; HEALTH OF REFUGEES the remainder of the chapter.

This section concludes the reading.

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READER pp 92-97 The Fly That Would Be King

The tsetse fly and trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) have shaped African history. Along the way, this 'dynamic duo' have determined what land is colonized and in many cases-protected land from ecological disaster.

Tsetse flies inhabit Africa only south of the Sahara. It has made livestock production impossible on more than six million square miles of land.

The flies are the vector for the infectious agent, the trypanosome. In the tsetse fly, the trypanosome makes its way from the gut to the salivary glands, ready to infect a new host. Trypanosomes have a brilliant stealth tactic: they produce a new antigenic variant every five two ten days. Immune systems don't have a chance.

Humans are the accidental host for this organism. Antilope with a long history of exposure to the organism, seem unaffected by it.

The author concludes by saying that conquest of the disease will open up new areas of Africa to overgrazing, soil erosion, social disruption, and faunal extinction.

..... CJ '99