Epidemiological transition
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
In demography and medical geography, epidemiological transition refers to a change in the pattern of disease in a country away from infectious diseases towards degenerative diseases. This theory was orinially proposed by Omran in 1971.
This transition is event as a country completes the process of modernization or economic development. Less economically developed countries have higher rates of infectious diseases as standards of medical care are lower than that found in more economically developed countries.
In those more economically developed countries more people die from degenerative diseases as those infectious diseases such as cholera and typhoid are easily treated causing more people to die from cancers as they live longer.
Commonly, there are two epidemiological transitions. The first transition was from hunting-gathering to primary food production. During this transition, infectious and parasitic diseases became prevalent. The shift to agriculture provides a more sedentary way-of-life and this creates more opportunities for contact with infected animals and human waste (i.e. vectors and vehicles of transmission). The second epidemiological transition occurred in modern times with infectious diseases under control and chronic, noninfectious, degenerative diseases rising. This second epidemiological transition is typically in the wealthy or first-world nations. Third-world nations still suffer from infectious diseases more than chronic diseases.