Worldental Daily New Delhi, 11 September 2014

Science & Practice Thursday, 11 September 2014 T wenty-two years ago, a sem- inal report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in the US, titled “Emerging Infections: Micro- bial Threats to Health in the United States”, warned of the dangers of so- callednewlyemergingandre-emerg- ing diseases. The concept of “emerg- ing infectious diseases”, introduced then by the IOM is now well entren- ched, and to our chagrin we have wit- nessed many such diseases over the last two decades. These include variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease/ bovine spongiform encephalopathy, severe acute respiratory syndrome, andMiddleEastrespiratorysyndrome, andaboveallthepandemicofacquired immune deficiency syndrome (Aids), whichhasclaimedmillionsoflivesthe worldover.There-emerginginfectious diseases we have seen include dis- eases caused by meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and multi- drug-resistant and extensively drug- resistanttuberculosis. Interestingly, the concept of “emerging infectious diseases” is not new.IndeedancientGreek,Romanand Persianwritersdocumentedtheemer- genceofmanynewepidemics.Inmore recent times, the scientist Robert Boyle presciently observed in 1865 that “there are ever new forms of epi- demic diseases appearing […] among [them] the emergent variety of exotick and hurtful […]”. Arguably though, the most noteworthy relatively new emerging infectious disease with the greatest impact on the dental profes- sion has been the human immuno- deficiencyvirusandAids. And now we have a severe epi- demic of Ebola virus infection. It is back with a vengeance, this time in WestAfrica,withover380casesanda 69 per cent case fatality ratio at the timeofwriting.TheculpritistheZaire ebolavirus species, the most lethal Ebola virus known, with case fatality ratios up to 90 per cent. According to the IOM report, there are many reasons that new diseases emerge and re-emerge. These include health care advances with the atten- dant problems (e.g. transplantation, immunosuppression,antibioticabuse, and contaminated blood and blood products) and human behaviour, in- cluding injectable drug abuse and sexual promiscuity. Societal occur- rences, such as economic impoverish- ment, war and civil conflict, too are critical according to the IOM. The cur- rent outbreak of Ebola virus infection TheEbolavirusepidemic: Aconcernfordentistry? ByProf.LakshmanSamaranayake,Australia AD 8 www.fdiworldental.org IProf.LakshmanSamaranayake, Australia 3448E high-strength VITA SUPRINITY® – Glass Ceramic. Revolutionized. The new zirconia-reinforced high-performance glass ceramic. VITA SUPRINITY material belongs to the new generation of CAD/CAM glass ceramics. Now for the first time this in- novative, high-performance material is reinforced with zirco- nia. This results in a high-strength material and processing safety coupled with an extraordinary degree of reliability. It features a particularly homogeneous structure that ensures simple processing and reproducible results. And what's more, VITA SUPRINITY offers the benefit of a very wide range of indications. For more information visit: www.vita-suprinity.com facebook.com/vita.zahnfabrik reliable dependable SiO2 Li2O

Worldental Daily New Delhi, 11 September 2014

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