title: Impact of changing societal trends on the spread of infections in American and Canadian homes.
abstract: Infectious diseases continue to exert a heavy toll on human health even in industrialized countries. Recent data from the World Health Organization suggests that infectious diseases are the leading cause of death in the world. Many changing trends in our society have a known or potential impact on infectious disease spread and may have an impact on the normal routine of home hygiene. Important amongst these societal trends are increasing population and life expectancy, changes in urbanization, grouping of susceptibles, increased ambulatory and home care, increased immunosuppression, increased and faster travel, changes in technology, increasing antibiotic resistance as a result of misuse of antibiotics, changes in food and water consumption, and changes in personal cleaning, washing, and laundry practices. This review will highlight these factors and their impact on home hygiene and steps that may be needed to reduce the risk from infections.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research on Environmental Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Sattar
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tetro
authors.forename: V S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Springthorpe
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000639:trends; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011157:Population Dynamics; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014195:Travel / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014507:Urbanization / Q000639:trends