‘Disease detective’ and the case of the unsolved poxes

Yes. I’m talking about Donald ‘DA’ Henderson, an American epidemiologist. Many moons ago, he led the global campaign against smallpox. And thanks to the pioneering efforts of this ‘disease detective’, as he used to call himself, we were able to eradicate the fatal disease in 1980.

Hardly a ‘small’ pox! In the 20th century alone, smallpox killed more than 30 crore people. The campaign against smallpox, which used a strategy called ring vaccination (immunising a ring of people around the infected), cost an estimated $300 million.

It was. Mind you this was a disease that had been in existence since the time of the Egyptian pharaohs. And that’s what made the efforts of Dr Henderson — he died last Friday, August 19, in the US — all the more important and epochal. His demise has put the spotlight back on our war against virulent epidemics, the most recent one being the Zika virus.

There’s some relief for you. Marathoner Sudha Singh, who arrived from Rio last Saturday, has tested positive only for Influenza ‘A’ H1N1; many speculated it could be Zika. But elsewhere, the threat of Zika is alive and kicking. The World Bank estimates the mosquito-born disease will cost the world $3.5 billion this year.

Epidemics such as Ebola, Zika and infectious diseases such as polio and diphtheria pose tougher challenges before Henderson’s colleagues, costing economies billions of dollars. That’s why health experts feel fighting these diseases should not become a government-only mission; the private sector should also pitch in. That means businesses, too. As David E Bloom and David Canning of the Harvard School of Public Health observe in their paper, Epidemics and Economics , the relationship between epidemics and wealth has many similarities to that between overall health and wealth. They quote a 2004 survey conducted by the World Economic Forum on the impact of AIDS on businesses.

The global survey of more than 8,000 firms saw 16 per cent of respondents admitting the virus could seriously hit their business. Bloom and Canning cite the example of the 2003 SARS outbreak. Although less than a thousand people died in the epidemic, tourism and business were hit hard, and some estimates placed the economic cost of the virus at over $11 billion.

Some expect newer epidemics will cost more. Equally important are silent killers such as diphtheria, diarrhoea and other similar diseases. Many can be contained through vaccination. But spreading the benefits of vaccination is still a challenge. According to reports, even in India, diseases such as diphtheria, which we thought had been contained, are making a comeback. So far this year, the disease has claimed more than 15 lives in India itself, triggering a public health controversy. Officials blame campaigns against vaccination, backed by religious outfits and pseudo-scientists, for this crisis.

That’s just one example. There is more in store, warn health officials. This points towards the importance of spreading awareness on immunisation in regions where science is viewed with scepticism. Of course, governments do a lot here, but companies can do a lot more. As a Johns Hopkins University study on the economic value of vaccines found recently, for every dollar invested in immunisation, there is a $16 return. That’s a rich opportunity to build a better world.

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