Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Candidate of Demography, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant Professor of Demography, National Institute of Population Research, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the most important factors in the occurrence and epidemic of emerging infectious diseases such as Covid-19 and their relationship with modernization and globalization based on the concepts presented in the sociological perspective of risky society Irish Beck and the demographic view of health transition. The research method is descriptive-analytical and based on existing documents. According to the findings, the most important reasons for occurrence of emerging infectious diseases is environmental change (climate change and global warming and deforestation), which is related to human interventions in nature. Urbanization, high density in cities, air pollution, the increase in migration and the growth of spatial mobility are also among the most important factors in the spread of diseases such as Covid-19. All these causes and factors are related to modernization, globalization and its risks. On the other hand, social, economic, health and geographical inequalities also play an important role in the continued presence of the Covid-19 epidemic within and between countries, especially in middle-income countries such as Iran. These inequalities have become more pronounced, especially after the discovery of the vaccine. Therefore, occurrence, global prevalence and differences between countries in this field can be explained with the risky society and the health transition approaches.
 

Keywords

Andrasfay, T. Goldman, N. (2021). Reductions in 2020 US life expectancy due to COVID-19 and the disproportionate impact on the Black and Latino populations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(5): 1-15.
Antabe, R. Ziegler, B.R. (2020). Diseases, emerging and infectious. International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, 3: 389- 392
Balcan, D. Colizza, V. Gonçalves, B.H. Ramasco, J. Vespignani, A. (2009). Multiscale mobility networks and the spatial spreading of infectious diseases. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(51), 21484-21489.
Banerjee, A. Mukherjee, S. Maji, B.K. (2021). Manipulation of genes could inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection that causes COVID-19 pandemics. Experimental Biology and Medicine, 246: 1643–1649.
Beck, U. (2000). Risk society revisited: theory, politics and research programs, in Adam, B.Y beck, U. & J. Van Loon (eds.). The risk society and beyond: critical issues for social theory, London: Sage.
Beck, Ulrich. (1992). Risk Society: Toward a new modernity. London: Sage publications.
Beigel, JH. Tomashek, KM. Dodd, L. Mehta, AK. Zingman, B. Kalil, A. Castilla, DL. (2020). Remdesivir for the treatment of Covid-19. preliminary report. The New England journal of medicine.‏
Brancalion, P.H. Broadbent, E.N. Miguel, S. Cardil, A. Rosa, M.R. Almeida, C. Almeyda-Zambrano, A. M. (2020). Emerging threats linking tropical deforestation and the COVID-19 pandemic. Perspectives in ecology and conservation, 18(4): 243-246.
Bruce, S. Yearley, S. (2006). The Sage Dictionary of Sociology, London: Sage publications.
Caldwell, J. Caldwell, P. (1991). What have we learnt about the cultural, social and behavioural determinants of health? From selected readings to the first Health Transition. Health Transition Review, 2: 3-19.
Campbell-Lendrum, D. H. Corvalan, C. F. Prüss Ustün, A. (2003). How much disease could climate change cause. Climate change and human health: risks and responses. Geneva: WHO, 133-158.
Cao, X. (2020). COVID-19: immunopathology and its implications for therapy. Nature reviews immunology, 20(5): 269-270.‏
Castelli, F. Sulis, G. (2017). Migration and infectious diseases. Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 23(5): 283-289.
Church, D.L. (2004). Major factors affecting the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases. Clinics in laboratory medicine, 24(3): 559-586.
Coccia, M. (2020). Factors determining the diffusion of COVID-19 and suggested strategy to prevent future accelerated viral infectivity similar to COVID. Science of the Total Environment, 729: 1-21.
Devaux CA. (2012). Emerging and re-emerging viruses: A global challenge illustrated by Chikungunya virus outbreaks. World Journal of Virology. 1 (1): 11–22.
Farzanegan, M.R. Feizi, M. Gholipour, H.F. (2021). Globalization and the outbreak of COVID-19: An empirical analysis. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 14(3): 1-10.
Farzanegan, M.R. Gholipour, H.F. Feizi, M. Nunkoo, R. Andargoli, A.E. (2021). International tourism and outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19): A cross-country analysis. Journal of Travel Research, 60(3): 687-692.
Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nation (2020). Status and trends in forest area. http://www.fao.org/state-of-forests/en
Frenk, J. Bobadilla, C. Stern, T. Frejka, Lozano. R. (1991). Elements for a theory of the health transition. Health Transition Review; 1: 21-38.
Frenk, J. Octavio, G. Felicia, K. (2011). Globalization and Infectious Diseases. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America. 2011; 25 (3): 593-599.
Gaylin, D.S. Kates, J. (1997). Refocusing the lens: epidemiologic transition theory, mortality differentials, and the AIDS pandemic. Social science & medicine, 44(5): 609-621.
Ghasemi, M. (2009). Risk society and its implications to strategic studies. strategic Studies Quarterly, 12(45): 27-47. [in Persian].
Giddens, A. (2007). Socialogy. Tehran. Ney Press. [in Persian].
Gilfillan, D. Marland, G. (2021). CDIAC-FF: global and national CO 2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement manufacture: 1751–2017. Earth System Science Data, 13(4): 1667-1680.
Kim, J. Hong, K. Yum, S. Gómez Gómez, R.E. Jang, J. Park, S.H. Chun, B.C. (2021). Factors associated with the difference between the incidence and case-fatality ratio of coronavirus disease 2019 by country. Scientific reports, 11(1): 1-11.
Kontis, V. Bennett, J. E. Rashid, T. Parks, R.M. Pearson-Stuttard, J. Guillot, M. Ezzati, M. (2020). Magnitude, demographics and dynamics of the effect of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on all-cause mortality in 21 industrialized countries. Nature medicine, 26 (12): 1919-1928.
Kruse, H. Kirkemo, A. Handeland, K. (2004). Wildlife as source of zoonotic infections. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 10 (12): 2067–2072.
Lashley, F.R. (2003). Factors contributing to the occurrence of emerging infectious diseases. Biological research for nursing, 4 (4): 258-267.
Le, T.T. Andreadakis, Z. Kumar, A. Roman, R.G. Tollefsen, S. Saville, M. Mayhew, S. (2020). The COVID-19 vaccine development landscape. Nature Review Drug Discover, 19(5): 305-306.
Lindahl, J. Grace, D. (2015). The consequences of human actions on risks for infectious diseases: a review. Infection Ecology and Epidemiology. 5 (1): 1-11.
Luhmann, N. (2005). Systems theory and paradigm shift in sociology (reflection on Nicholas Luhmann's ideas). Tehran. Ghomes Press. [in Persian].
Lurie, N. Saville, M. Hatchett, R. Halton, J. (2020). Developing Covid-19 vaccines at pandemic speed. New England Journal of Medicine, 382(21): 1969-1973.
McKeown, R.E. (2009). The epidemiologic transition: changing patterns of mortality and population dynamics. American journal of lifestyle medicine, 3(1): 19-26.
McMichael, A. J. Campbell-Lendrum, D.H. Corvalán, C.F. Ebi, K.L. Githeko, A. Scheraga, J.D. Woodward, A. (2003). Climate change and human health: risks and responses. World Health Organization.
McMichael, A. J. Lindgren, E. (2011). Climate change: present and future risks to health, and necessary responses. Journal of internal medicine, 270 (5): 401-413.
McMichael, A.J. (2004). Environmental and social influences on emerging infectious diseases: past, present and future. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences, 359(1447): 1049-1058.
McMichael, C. (2015). Climate change-related migration and infectious disease. Virulence, 6(6): 548-553.
McNamara, J. Robinson, E.J. Abernethy, K. Iponga, D.M. Sackey, H.N. Wright, J.H. Milner-Gulland, E.J. (2020). COVID-19, systemic crisis, and possible implications for the wild meat trade in Sub-Saharan Africa. Environmental and Resource Economics, 76(4): 1045-1066.‏
Meloni, S. Perra, N. Arenas, A. Gómez, S. Moreno, Y. Vespignani, A. (2011). Modeling human mobility responses to the large-scale spreading of infectious diseases. Scientific reports, 1 (62): 1-7.
Mohebi-Meymandi, M. Sasanipour, M. (2020). Covid-19 and its Challenges for Demographic Transitions: The Age of Updating Emerging Pandemics? Journal of Population Association of Iran, 15 (30): 41-74. [in Persian].
Morens, D. M. Fauci, A S. (2013). Emerging infectious diseases: threats to human health and global stability. PLoS pathogens, 9(7): 1-3.
Morse, S.S. (2005). Factors in the emergence of infectious diseases. Emerging Infectious Diseases 1(1): 7-15.
Murray, C.L. Lopez, A.D. (1996). The global burden of disease: A comprehensive assessment of mortality and disability from diseases, injuries and risk factors in 1990 and projected to 2020. Harvard School of Public Health, Boston.
Nabavi, M. (2006). The world as a whole. Strategy. 6: 1-5. [in Persian].
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate: Global Climate Report for Annual 2019. Published online January 2020, retrieved on November 18, 2021 from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201913.
Notestein, F. W. (1953). Economic problems of population change. London: Oxford University Press.
Oaks, J.S. Shope, R.E. Lederberg, J. (1992). Emerging infections: microbial threats to health in the United States. Washington (DC): National Academies Press.
Olshansky, S. J. Carnes, B. Rogers, R. G. Smith, L. (1997). Infectious diseases: New and ancient threats to world health. Population Bulletin-Washington, 52; 2(1): 1-52.
Our World in Data (2020), Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19).
https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus
Our world in data (2021). Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations.
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations
Patz, J. A. Campbell-Lendrum, D. Holloway, T. Foley, J.A. (2005). Impact of regional climate change on human health. Nature, 438(7066): 310-317.
Patz, J. A. Githeko, A. K. McCarty, J. P. Hussein, S. Confalonieri, U. De Wet, N. (2003). Climate change and infectious diseases. Climate change and human health: risks and responses, 2: 103-32.
Pollitzer, R. (1954). Cholera studies: 1. History of the disease. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 10(3): 421-461.
Porter, D. (2005). Health, civilization and the state: a history of public health from ancient to modern times. Routledge.
Raoofi, A. Takian, A. Haghighi, H. Rajizadeh, A. Rezaei, Z. Radmerikhi, S. Sari, A.A. (2021). COVID-19 and Comparative Health Policy Learning; the Experience of 10 Countries. Archives of Iranian Medicine (AIM), 24(3): 260-272.
Saker, L. Lee, K. Cannito, B. Gilmore, A. Campbell-Lendrum, D.H. (2004). Globalization and infectious diseases: a review of the linkages. WHO. Special Topics No. 3.
Sigler, T. Mahmuda, S. Kimpton, A. Loginova, J. Wohland, P. Charles-Edwards, E. Corcoran, J. (2021). The socio-spatial determinants of COVID-19 diffusion: the impact of globalisation, settlement characteristics and population. Globalization and health, 17(1): 1-14.
South, A. M. Diz, D. I. Chappell, M.C. (2020). COVID-19, ACE2, and the cardiovascular consequences. American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 318: 1084-90.
Tsoucalas, G. Kousoulis, A. Sgantzos, M. (2016). The 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic, the Origins of the H1N1-virus Strain, a Glance in History. European Journal of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences, 2(4): 23-28.
Turner, B.S. (1994). Orientalism, postmodernism and globalism, London & New York: Routledge.
Turner, B.S. (2006). The cambridge dictionary of sociology, Cambridge University Press.
United Nations (2014). World’s population increasingly urban with more than half living in urban areas.
United Nations (2019). International Migration 2019. New York.
Vaira, L. A. Salzano, G. Deiana, G. De Riu, G. (2020). Anosmia and ageusia: common findings in COVID-19 patients. The Laryngoscope.‏ 1: 1-3.
Velavan, T.P. Meyer, C.G. (2020). The COVID-19 epidemic. Tropical medicine & international health, 25 (3): ‏278-280.
Webster, R. G. Bean, W.J. Gorman, O.T. Chambers, T.M. Kawaoka, Y. (1992). Evolution and ecology of influenza A viruses. Microbiological reviews, 56(1): 152-179.
Wesolowski, A. Buckee, C. O. Engø-Monsen, K. Metcalf, C.J. (2016). Connecting mobility to infectious diseases: the promise and limits of mobile phone data. The Journal of infectious diseases, 214(1): 414-420.
Woolhouse, M.E. Gowtage-Sequeria, S. (2005). Host range and emerging and reemerging pathogens. Emerging Infectious Diseases. 11 (12): 1842–7.
 www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/world-urbanization-prospects-2014.html.
Yarmol-Matusiak, E.A. Cipriano, L.E. Stranges, S. (2021). A comparison of COVID-19 epidemiological indicators in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 49(1): 69-78.
Zhou, P. Yang, X. L. Wang, X. G. Hu, B. Zhang, L. Zhang, W. Chen, H.D. (2020). A pneumonia outbreak associated with a new coronavirus of probable bat origin. Nature, 579(7798): 270-273.