Chapter 7 - Microbiological tests
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 December 2009
Summary
In tropical and developing countries, there is an urgent need to strengthen clinical microbiology and public health laboratory services in response to:
The high prevalence and increasing incidence of infectious diseases.
HIV disease/AIDS, acute respiratory tract infections (particularly pneumonia), typhoid, cholera, dysentery, tuberculosis, meningitis, whooping cough, plague, sexually transmitted diseases (including gonorrhoea and syphilis), viral hepatitis, yellow fever, dengue, and viral haemorrhagic fevers are major infectious diseases that cause high mortality and serious ill health in tropical and developing countries. Climatic changes, particularly global warming and extreme rainfall, are increasing the distribution of some infectious diseases, especially those that are mosquito-borne and water-borne.
The threat posed by the re-emergence and rapid spread of diseases previously under control or in decline such as tuberculosis, plague, diphtheria, dengue, cholera and meningococcal meningitis.
The emergence of opportunistic pathogens associated with HIV, new strains of pathogens such as Vibrio cholerae serotype 0139 and viruses causing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and avian influenza.
The rapid rate at which bacterial pathogens are becoming resistant to commonly available and affordable antimicrobials.
Drug resistance is causing problems in the treatment and control of infections caused by pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and enterococci. Some strains of M. tuberculosis have developed multi-drug resistance.
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- District Laboratory Practice in Tropical Countries , pp. 1 - 266Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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