The desperate fight against the unseen to secure our world's future
People who are infected with the polio virus are at risk of paralysis. In fact, the disease used to disable hundreds of thousands of children per year in the early 20th century. Since the global rollout of a polio vaccine, however, the virus has been circulating only in Pakistan and Afghanistan. That all changed in 2022, when polio reemerged in the UK and US.
The first serious disease that made a comeback in 2022 is polio. Polio is a serious infection that is spread by coming into contact with the feces of an infected person, for example by not washing your hands properly and putting them in your mouth. It can also be spread by consuming contaminated food or water.
Currently, the COVID-19 variants circulating are almost all a version of Omicron, but health officials in the US are worried that the virus could mutate again into another variant. If another variant were to appear, it could potentially circumvent prevention and treatment measures, as millions more people continue to be infected in 2023.
Although it is rare, adults may also develop symptoms similar to those associated with MIS-C. In this case, we refer to multisystem inflammatory disease in adults (MIS-A). As with MIS-C, MIS-A is also linked to a current or previous infection with the virus that causes COVID-19.
While most children who catch COVID-19 only become mildly unwell, children who develop MIS-C develop swollen and irritated blood vessels, digestive system, and skin or eyes. The condition is rare and most children get better with medical care. In some cases, however, children quickly deteriorate, and MIS-C can cause life-threatening illness or death.
One disease that actually made its debut post-pandemic is multisystem inflammatory disease in children (MIS-C). This describes a group of symptoms linked to inflamed (swollen) organs and tissues, and it requires treatment in the hospital. MIS-C was first detected in April 2020, and it is currently linked to COVID-19. Experts are still studying the cause and the risk factors for getting it.
There has also been a clear resurgence of STIs since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries with good visibility on STI transmission rates, such as the US and Canada, have reported an increase in at least three STIs: syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. Reports from other regions of the world have also shown an increase in cases of congenital syphilis and syphilis, especially among key populations.
Booster shots of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine continue to combat the Omicron variant. While the US has offered some of these to China, the latter prefers to trial its own booster shots. While the country has an overall vaccination rate of 90%, only two thirds of adults over 80 have been vaccinated. This is significant, considering that adults over the age of 80 are by far the most vulnerable to becoming seriously ill or dying after contracting COVID-19.
See also: Diseases doctors often get wrong
According to reporter Sarah Braner, it is possible that the strain of cholera currently circulating is a descendant of one that was brought into the country over 10 years ago by UN troops who were providing earthquake disaster relief. Haiti is not the only country affected, however: case numbers have also increased in Syria, Malawi, and 25 other countries.
And last but not least, there is COVID-19 itself. For many of us the memory of the pandemic is retreating in our minds, and yet COVID-19 continues to infect and kill millions of people worldwide. Experts expect up to 1.8 million people to die from COVID-19 by the end of April 2023 in China, where the government has dismantled its "zero-COVID" policy in the face of widespread protests.
For the first time in three years, cholera is spreading in Haiti. The country has recorded at least 13,000 cases and 280 deaths since early October. Cholera is an infection that can cause severe diarrhea, and you can catch it from drinking unclean water, eating food that has been in unclean water, or eating food that has been prepared or handled by an infected person.
In response to these outbreaks, WHO is calling on governments to increase funding for STI services and to focus their efforts on scaling up STI prevention, testing, and treatment services. They have also asked countries to urge against stigmatization, blaming, and shaming, which can make it even more difficult to end outbreaks.
Doctors have emphasized that in order to combat this resurgence of cholera, control and prevention efforts must be reinforced. WHO has specified that "urgent action is needed to increase global vaccine production." Until that is achieved, cholera vaccines are being rationed to one per person rather than the usual two, to provide more people with protection in the near term.
According to WHO, the main reason for the resurgence of STIs is that during the COVID-19 pandemic many countries had low coverage for preventative, testing, and treatment services for sexually transmitted infections. Apparently there has also been an emergence of non-classical STIs, such as hepatitis A, for the same reason.
Most children who contract parechovirus only experience mild symptoms. It can, however, cause serious illness in babies under three months old. Some develop sepsis-like symptoms or central nervous system infections, and it can increase the risk of longer-term developmental problems.
While RSV is always common, this respiratory disease season has been particularly intense, because many different viruses and bacteria are all spreading at the same time. This is causing drug shortages and long waits for care, both of which will continue as more wintery illnesses appear over the next few months. The majority of viral illnesses peak between December and February.
Bronchiolitis is a chest infection that affects babies and children under the age of two. It is usually mild and can be treated at home, but it can sometimes be serious. Indeed, RSV is the number one cause of hospitalization in kids less than 12 months old. Children at a higher risk of becoming seriously ill with bronchiolitis are those who were born very prematurely, have a heart or lung condition, or have a weakened immune system.
Experts are questioning whether the rise in parechovirus numbers is a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It may be that the easing of restrictions has simply led to more transmission, as families started mingling again. Some have argued that the increase in reporting is due mainly to an improvement in testing.
At the beginning of 2023, the mpox virus seems to be in retreat, thanks to the quick adoption of vaccines, treatments, and community prevention measures. As it stands, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) does not expect to have to renew the emergency declaration when it expires on January 31, 2023.
Reported cases of children’s bronchiolitis, a viral infection usually caused by the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), have soared during the winter season of 2022-23. Although it is normally a common infection, numbers are higher this season perhaps due to a so-called "exposure debt," which means that lots of children who didn’t get many common childhood illnesses for two years are all getting infected with them now.
There has been an uptick in the number of parechovirus infections reported. Parechovirus is another common virus that causes flu-like symptoms in children. During the COVID-19 pandemic it all but disappeared from children’s hospitals, at least in the US. Now, however, it appears to be back with a vengeance.
Mpox can be passed from person to person through close physical contact with mpox blisters or scabs, touching clothing, bedding, or towels used by someone with mpox, or the coughs and sneezes of someone with mpox when they are close to you. The first symptoms are usually flu-like (high temperature, headache, and swollen glands), and then a rash usually appears, first on the face and then spreading to other parts of the body.
According to Jennifer Heath, the immunizations program coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Health, the measles virus is so contagious that "even a small drop in the immunization coverage rate means there are thousands more children who could be vulnerable to disease.” According to disease experts, there may be more outbreaks in 2023 in areas of the world with a vaccination coverage of less than 95%.
One of the outbreaks that received more media attention in 2022 was mpox (previously known as monkeypox before WHO renamed it). Before 2022, mpox had rarely ever spread outside of endemic countries in central and west Africa. In the six months from May 2022, however, there were more than 83,500 cases and 25 deaths confirmed worldwide.
Thankfully, scarlet fever is a bacterial infection, which means that it can be treated with a range of different antibiotics. To avoid the spread of scarlet fever, it is important to wash your hands often with soap and water, use tissues to trap germs from coughs and sneezes, and toss out used tissues as quickly as possible.
A disease we normally associate with days gone by, scarlet fever made a comeback in 2022 and killed at least 25 children in the UK. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), numbers of strep A infections were up in the US, too, although no deaths were recorded stateside.
Next up on the list is scarlet fever. This contagious infection is caused by strep A and mostly affects young children. It can cause flu-like symptoms, such as high temperature, sore throat, and swollen glands. It often also causes a whitish coating on the tongue, which doctors often use to diagnose the infection.
One of the most contagious viruses that is possible for children to contract, measles is also on the rise. In Ohio, 82 cases of measles were reported in 2022, and while none of those infections were fatal, almost half of the affected patients (32) were hospitalized. In Minnesota, too, there were 22 measles infections recorded, after three years of no cases.
As far as we know, only unvaccinated children have been affected (although four of the patients had the vaccination status "unknown"). According to the CDC, the measles vaccination rate has been in steady decline since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, both in the US and throughout the rest of the world.
Worried? Check out this gallery for the full story on the significant diseases that made their comeback (or debut) in 2022.
Warning: These diseases are reemerging after the COVID pandemic
Infectious diseases that were on the rise in 2022, and could spell bad news for next years
HEALTH Outbreaks
While the world was preoccupied in 2020 and 2021 with COVID-19, many other infectious diseases took a back seat. With person-to-person contact severely restricted, the opportunity to pass on an infection was reduced, and there was (thankfully) no major outbreak other than COVID-19 that shook the global health system. But 2022, by contrast, was peppered with the outbreak of new diseases, such as mpox (previously known as monkeypox), as well as the resurgence of diseases such a measles and polio in places where we thought they were confined to the past.
Worried? Check out this gallery for the full story on the significant diseases that made their comeback (or debut) in 2022.