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Founded after World War II to fight malaria, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now encompasses offices for many diseases. The CDC is particularly known for its research and reports on controlling and preventing diseases threatening public health, mainly infectious diseases. Lately, the CDC has been on the international agenda in terms of its fight against Ebola, in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO). 

 

Malaria in Turkey is more dangerous

Dr.Patrick Kachur, Chief of CDC’s Malaria Branch, said, “In 2012, 627 thousands of deaths have been recorded due to malaria, the most lethal infectious disease. 90 percent of these cases are from 15 countries in Africa’s Sub-Saharan region. The disease is only transmitted by mosquito bites. If treated early, the patient starts recovering in 3 days. African malaria can be treated easily. In the South-eastern and Cukurova regions of Turkey, at least 5 thousand people catch malaria every year. Turkey’s malaria problem is different than Africa. Even if the patient is treated and do not receive another mosquito bite, the disease can reappear within a year. Therefore, drug treatment can take up to one month.”

 

Flu vaccines very effective

Influenza expert Dr. Eduardo Baumgartner said, “There are two types of flu: Pandemic and seasonal. This year there is a pandemic season. Many people catch the virus. In the Unites States, 70 thousand people die of flue every year. A H3-H2 types of virus are reported in the US and Europe. In the coming months, flu epidemic will reach its peak in the European continent, including Turkey. Even one flu patient can multiply and spread the virus like a laser copy machine. The best way of protection against flu is to get vaccinated every year.”

 

Izmir will be a cancer monitoring centre

Dr. Mona Saraiya, Associate Director in the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office of International Cancer Control, said “There were 14.1 million new cancer cases in 2012; 8.2 million people lost their lives due to this disease. Turkey will host Global Cancer Summit in Izmir next year. Izmir will become the Middle East’s cancer monitoring centre. The most common types of cancer in Turkey are lung, breast and prostate cancers. In the US, lung, breast and colon cancers are more widespread. Types of cancer vary from country to country.”

 

Syphilis boom in the world

Prof.Sevil Aral, Scientific Director of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Division, said “We should look into syphilis as well as AIDS. Today, there is a syphilis boom in global scale. Syphilis increases due to homosexual relations. It is treatable. The foremost method of prevention is to use condoms during sex. Scientific research reveals that male circumcision protects against STDs and HIV. We anticipate that next year the transmission of the virus from mothers to babies will be prevented due to treatment methods applied to HIV/AIDS patients.”