“Climate Change and Emerging Infectious Diseases”

There is a provocative article in the May, 2018 Scientific American by Lois Parshley, in the section entitled The Future of Medicine 2018, beginning on page 58, which traces the El Nino episodes and the La Nina episodes in our weather to the emergence of Rift Valley Fever.  The pattern of emergence from 1977 until 2016 is explored, as this disease of animals and humans is spread by mosquitoes, Aedes mcintoshi and other types.

Rift Valley fever (RVF) was first identified in 1931, when an epidemic broke out in sheep in Kenya’s Rift Valley.  Since then explosive outbreaks have been tied to El Nino/Southern oscillation weather patterns, per this article report (see diagram, p. 61).  In 2000 the virus spread from the Horn of Africa into the Arabian Peninsula, and raised concerns it might spread to Europe and North America.  This biggest risk for humans, of course, occurs when the virus jumps from animals to people, which can dramatically raise the risk of a pandemic, owing that humans have no natural immunity to the disease.

According to Lois Parshley, the US Department of Agriculture has named Rift Valley Fever the third most dangerous animal pathogen, behind only bird flu and hoof and mouth disease. (p.60)

Now of what concern is this disease to those of use in the USA who own no animals and who are not likely to directly contact this disease?

Do you remember Ebola?  This is also a disease transmitted initially from animals to people, yet in its new virulent form it is transmissible from person to person without an animal vector.  Following the outbreak of Ebola between 2014 and 2016, the Center for Disease Control and the US Government ramped up our infectious disease preparedness.  The Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) builds infrastructure which can control a wide range of biological threats.  Quoting this article:

“Though focused on developing countries, the initiative directly helps the U.S., because unchecked, diseases such as Ebola will reach America’s shores. This work done, mostly through the CDC and the U.S. Agency for International Development, has produced hundreds of valuable interventions directed at enhancing countries’ capacities to detect, prevent and respond to dangerous infections.

               Despite the successes, the budget outlined by President Donald Trump this winter cut funding for the GHSA to $59 million for the coming fiscal year.  This is a sharp reduction from the $1 billion that Congress gave for the years 2014-2019.  The CDC will need to start closing down many of its overseas health security programs if Congress—which ultimately sets spending levels—does not increase the allocation.”  (A World of Trouble, by Thomas Inglesby, pp 62-63) [inset into first article quoted above].

I commend the remainder of the article to those thoughtful readers, who wish to be informed about how lack of government funding for proven programs places all our lives and that of the larger world in great jeopardy!

Funding for International Aid, health initiatives in the less developed world, and even initiatives at home like the Health Department has never been popular.  So many things which are needed across our globe are shoved aside so more politically expedient priorities can instead be funded.  Shall I mention Donald Trump’s wall on the Mexican border?  Does he not realize that viruses and infectious diseases care nothing about physical walls!  They travel in human blood.  All it takes is one infected individual sitting on a plane for 14 hours to contaminate and infect his or her fellow travelers on the plane.

There is a biblical expression that says, “He strains at a gnat, but swallows a camel.”  Is this not true of our government funding priorities?  Majoring in minor things, and minoring in major things, this group of government officials has fallen backwards into the 1950s.  They keep trying to “make the world safe for democracy”, but it is not the current world we live in.  It is time we all began to live in 2018!

President Trump has rejected climate change as a scientific fact.  He has instituted tariffs which already failed in the 1920s.  He has withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific partnership, which would have helped counterbalance China in the Far East.  He has conceded Syria to the Russians and Iranians, while dealing only in symbols to please his conservative base, placing the US embassy now in Jerusalem, effectively ending any hope of the USA being a broker for peace in the Middle East.  President Trump encourages coal production, when all the power companies are rapidly switching to natural gas and other renewables for energy production.

Let me share my wish list for a better United States, with more justice, more equity and more shared wealth for us all:

1. Let everyone who wants a job find one, and let all these jobs pay a living wage.
2. Let everyone who lives in the United States have a basic health insurance plan. It might have high deductions and might be catastrophic only, but with clearly spelled out options of affordable rates to buy up and obtain better coverage.  Base it on a proportion of our wages, so those who make less spend less, but those who make more, spend more, to a reasonable amount, say 5-7 % of your income.  To get the best insurance, a person would need to be working, but those who are not working will have options for care as well.  Those who elect to have no insurance would pay the full price for whatever they do, and it would be aggressively collected.
3. Continue Social Security for everyone over 65 years old, but encourage older workers to continue working and pay into the system, to make it more solvent. Unless a person is disabled, or in poor health, raise the retirement age to 67.
4. Have an annual accounting in each state of how gasoline taxes are actually spent, showing what parts of the state got the most funding for their roads, with a justification of why this was done. Areas with poor roads could petition to have their infrastructure repaired.
5. Develop a plan to rebuild all bridges and critical infrastructure across the nation. Set a goal of completion within 10 years.  Investors could fund this plan with a guaranteed 10% return on their money, sell it as government backed highways bonds, like the savings bonds.  As people pay money into the system they can be guaranteed in 10 years a payout on their money, which can be passed down without tax from generation to generation.  This could be funded through the gasoline tax.
6. Banks could develop a plan to pay 7% or more on savings accounts. A person would place money in accounts which may have 1-5 year maturity.  The longer the term the greater the interest, with minimum amounts of $500 – $50,000.  The interest would be non-taxable and could be used to help fund personal health expenses, personal health insurance, road infrastructure, or for  paying off student loan debt.  A parent could use these funds with no penalty to help pay off his immediate family student loans.  Certain type of jobs done in needy areas would qualify for cancellation of student loan debt, so in 5 years all student loan could be completely paid, provided the person worked in these areas.
7. Give tax breaks for all who donate food to feed the poor in our communities. Give Tax breaks for companies or individuals who provided section 5 type housing, or provide means to care for the mentally ill and the homeless.
8. Develop a government housing agency who sole purpose is to help poorer individuals find affordable housing.
9. Develop a people’s bank which funds small enterprises that do not qualify for the SBA loans now. As loans are repaid, others are able to obtain loans.
10. Help communities develop community gardens. Use the local self-sufficiency model to help persons rehabilitate and use vacant lots, abandoned properties to grow food.  Teach anyone who wishes to learn, how to grown their own food.
11. Develop a national recycling initiative to prevent waste and save water and energy. Give tax credits to those who willingly pick up trash in public areas and roads.
12. Mandate that every state supply at least 10% of their energy from renewable sources. Give special tax incentives to help family and businesses invest in clean energy, solar, wind, water and other types yet to be invented.
13. Begin to transition from an oil based economy with cars to renewable energy vehicles, to reduce pollution.
14. Let someone brighter than me develop a new transportation system using renewal energy sources, and reserve petroleum for other more important uses, as new medicines.  Let gridlock be a thing of the distant past!

These are just some ideas.  I think they are rather reasonable myself.  I would like simply to see a better world, one which treats everyone with respect, treats everyone like a human being and works to help everyone excel and to reach their fullest potential in our Lord!

To the glory of God my Savior, I make this prayer, offering all these ideas to our wondrous God, in Jesus name.  Amen.

Bill W.