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Rising inequality and growing deprivation have coincided with a"dramatic" leap in cases of infectious diseases in New Zealand overthe last two decades, a study revealed Monday. The study by the University of Otago showed admissions to hospitalsof people with infectious diseases had risen by 51 percent over the20 years from 1989 to 2008. The cases accounted for 27 percent of all acute hospitalizationsfrom 2004 to 2008, while hospitalizations of people withnon-infectious diseases rose by only 7 percent. Lead investigator Associate Professor Michael Baker said he was"taken aback" by the size of the increase. "What we expected to see was a steady decline in serious infectiousdiseases and a rise in admissions for chronic diseases, such ascancer and diabetes, which is the expected pattern for a developedcountry," Baker said in a statement. "Instead we found infectious diseases had risen far faster thanchronic diseases. New Zealand now has the double burden of risingrates of both infectious and chronic diseases." The researchers analyzed 5 million overnight hospital admissions,tracking trends across major population groups, according to age,ethnicity and socio-economic status, said the statement. It found that most categories of infectious disease had risen,driven mainly by increases in respiratory, skin andgastrointestinal infections. The largest increase in infectious diseases was in the 1990s,followed by some improvement in 2001 to 2005, followed by anotherincrease. The rise in the 1990s coincided with a period of rapidly risingincome and wealth inequalities associated with major restructuringof the New Zealand economy. "All New Zealanders pay the price of rising infectious diseases.There are those who are directly affected by these infections. Butthese contagious diseases affect all sectors of society. Theincreased rates are adding 17,000 hospitalizations a year and tensof millions of dollars in avoidable health care costs," Baker said. The research showed the indigenous Maori and Pacific Island peopleswere more than twice as likely as the European population to behospitalized with a serious infectious disease, while people in themost deprived communities had almost three times the risk comparedwith those living in the most affluent areas. "Fundamentally what this new research reveals is that the poorestsections of our community are bearing the brunt of an increasingburden of infectious disease, with children and older people inparticular ending up in hospital; this is especially so for Maoriand Pacific peoples," he said. "Because Maori and Pacific populations tend to be over- representedin the poorest suburbs there is a multiplier effect regardinginfectious disease risk. This has seen a 77 percent increase inhospitalisations for Maori and a 112 percent increase for Pacificpeoples from the most deprived areas over the last two decades." Baker said an example was rheumatic fever, which had almostdisappeared as a childhood disease in Western Europe and NorthAmerica, but was still a serious threat for Maori and Pacificchildren in New Zealand, causing heart disease and early death inadulthood. The research was carried in the international medical journal, TheLancet, with a comment by researchers that "the health ofindigenous people in New Zealand has historically been poorer thanthe rest of the population and these findings suggest that a risingburden of infectious disease may be leading to a widening of thisgap." "Urgent action must be taken to reverse this trend," the commentsaid. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Pet Bottle Recycling Machine , China Recycling Plastic Crusher for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Waste Plastic Recycling Machine.
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