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ISLAMABAD: Health professionals at a seminar have called for collaborative efforts to check the spread of infectious diseases which are witnessing a significant increase.

Speaking at the seminar titled, “Infection Related Features of Microorganism” arranged by the Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) in collaboration with Karolinska Institute,here on Monday, they emphasized joint research work by the academia and health sector in finding the ways to check the spread of infectious diseases.

They mentioned that following the August 2022 devastating floods according to World Health Organization (WHO) the broke out of infectious disease and malnutrition impacted some eight million flood victims.

Moreover, every year spread out of dengue and malaria fevers also posing serious health hazards to the people and hundreds of infected people are perished. They said public health risks are increasing. They said climate change like issues are not only resulting in damaging infrastructure, but also result in stagnant water, and inadequate sanitation facilities which are providing breeding sites for mosquitoes. They said that following the 2022 floods over half a million cases of malaria were reported in 32 of Pakistan's flood-drenched districts.

Speaking on the occasion, Professor Dr Ute Rumling, department of microbiology, tumour and cell biology, Karolinska Institute, said that infectious diseases are a major cause of morbidity and/or mortality in developing as well as industrialised countries. She said that sub-clinical infections lead to gradual impairment of functionality.

She mentioned that susceptibility for infectious diseases is increasing, saying that up to 80 percent of human microbial infections are caused by biofilm-forming bacteria and microbes in biofilms are tolerant against antibiotics and immune response. New pathogens are emerging due to changes in lifestyle, industrial processes, altered microbiome, and immune status.

Professor Dr Shazia Anjum, Dean, Faculty of Chemical and Biological Sciences, Islamia University, Bahawalpur said that this field of study is very important, as microbes are the enemies of the human being. She emphasized that we all need to collaborate and work together to fight infectious diseases. She appreciated the health capacity-building initiatives of COMSTECH and the seminar where people from the field will be able to learn and network to collaborate to combat diseases.

The Coordinator-General COMSTECH, Professor Dr Mohammad Iqbal Choudhary, while welcoming the participants at the seminar, said infectious diseases are a major threat to human well-being. He lamented that we spend a lot on other areas of research like technology but we are unconscious of the major killer of human beings since its inception.

He said that the pharmaceutical industry is not interested in investing in the development of antibiotics, academics must focus on infectious diseases research to solve this problem.

Choudhary stressed the need for collaborative work in the area of infectious disease research. He said this seminar is organised with the objective to understand the infections at the molecular level and let the researchers network and collaborate.

The seminar was attended by the Ambassador of Yemen and the diplomats from Qatar and Uzbekistan. A large number of national and international researchers participated in the seminar in person and online.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023

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