Conference Presentation, Fireside Chat, Panel, Interview
Lunch Program │ An Update on Zika Virus With CDC Director Tom Frieden
- Projections indicate Sub-Saharan Africa will account for 100% of net global population growth for the remainder of the century alongside a doubling of life expectancy, while life expectancy in East Africa is expected to rise 75% over two generations.
- China's median age is approaching that of the United States and is projected to surpass it within a few years, marking a historical speed of aging comparable to or faster than any prior nation.
- California's child population is reported to be more than 50% of Latin American ancestry, and U.S. life expectancy has risen 40 years over the last 114 years, a rate far exceeding the 11-year increase recorded over four million years of evolution.
- Current CDC data indicates no widespread Zika outbreak in the U.S., though local focal spread is anticipated in Florida, Texas, and Arizona, with approximately 700,000 infections projected in Puerto Rico by year-end if transmission mirrors the rapidity of chikungunya.
- CDC investigations are ongoing regarding 14 potential U.S. sexual transmission cases of Zika, following a confirmed case in Dallas, with an unanticipated transmission rate generating about one call per day regarding such instances.
- A faster, more accurate diagnostic test for Zika utilizing virus-like particles is expected within a couple of months, while the NIH leads vaccine development with guarded optimism for availability in a best-case scenario taking a couple of years.
- The FDA has issued blood transfusion guidance, with companies developing screening tests, while CDC Director Tom Frieden identifies pandemic flu as the greatest epidemiological threat capable of killing tens to hundreds of millions, necessitating continued investment in surveillance and vaccination systems.
- Global health funding is cited as critical to preventing adverse outcomes in the U.S., specifically to address multi-drug resistant tuberculosis driven by ineffective control programs.
- Hypertension is identified as a leading cause of death following tobacco, with only 14% of the global population and 52% of the U.S. population under control, though the SPRINT trial suggests lower blood pressure is superior and targets aim for a 70 to 80 percent control rate.
- Prescription opiate use and deaths have seen a horrific increase, and tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. with nearly 500,000 deaths annually.
- Epigenetic research reveals that identical twins show significant DNA methylation divergence by ages 20, 40, and 60, while studies on Japanese migrants and populations in Shanghai and Beijing indicate lifestyle factors can cause a nearly tenfold increase in hormone-driven cancers within one generation.
- Early-life factors including in utero mercury exposure, maternal stress during pregnancy, and post-WWII Dutch famine malnutrition have been linked to higher rates of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, preterm birth, and retarded growth in offspring.
- Social determinants including foreclosures, poverty, crime, and racial segregation are correlated with elevated stress hormone levels in neighborhoods.
- Food portion sizes in the U.S. are significantly larger than in France, with soft drinks 52% larger, yogurt cartons 82% larger, candy bars 41% larger, and hot dogs 63% larger, while the average soda serving size increased from 6.5 ounces in 1955 to 20 ounces today.
- Historical data shows that by April 12, 1955, the Salk vaccine was ruled effective after two million children were enrolled in trials by 1954, eventually reducing polio cases to zero, while HIV/AIDS transmission from mother to child has dropped from 90% to 2% over the last two decades.
- A 1987 prediction estimated one in five American heterosexuals could die from AIDS by 1990, and currently, more than two-thirds of individuals living with AIDS reside in sub-Saharan Africa.