Sea-Tac Airport and Minimizing the Spread of Infectious Disease

According to theGlobal Health Strategic Mapping and Economic Opportunity Portfolio completed last year by the Global Health Alliance (WGHA) and City of Seattle's Office of Economic Development (OED) the global health sector is having a growing impact both in Washington State and around the world: 

·                     59 Washington organizations are conducting global health work in 156 countries;

·                     In Washington, 2,979 people work in global health. Outside of the state, these 59 organizations support an additional 17,275 employees;

·                     Washington has particular expertise in infectious & chronic disease and developing technologies & devices; and

·                     The Washington global health organizations surveyed collaborate with 1,574 partners, located in 111 countries across the world.

The growing global health sector in the Puget Sound is having a positive spillover effect in other sectors of the local economy as well.  For example, in March 2012, the UAE-based international airline Emirates began non-stop service between Dubai and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.  Emirates offers convenient connections to both Asia and Africa from its hub in the Middle East, and one of the factors for choosing to start service to Seattle was the amount of travel that local global health executives do to the developing world.

Infectious disease has always been part of the human existence, and the microbes that cause disease evolve as fast as humans can develop strategies to combat them.  As the world has become increasingly mobile, monitoring and combating the spread of infectious diseases have become even more important. 

As people travel, they often bring the microbes that cause infectious disease along with them.  If they move into communities in which vaccination for that disease is not common or is no longer prevalent, disaster can follow.   

Tuberculosis (TB) provides a good example of this concept.   Over the last century, the disease has become relatively rare in the U.S.  As a result, U.S. health officials have let their guard down with respect to TB.  However, over the last several years the number of TB cases in the Seattle-area has increased.

Changes in the TB trends often show up first in port cities with high rates of foreign travel, foreshadowing future increases in other communities.  Most of the new cases in the Seattle area, close to 75%, are being identified among immigrants from Southeast Asia, Africa, former Soviet states and Latin America. 

Airports are gateways to the world, and close to 33 million people traveled through Sea-Tac Airport last year.  Because of this, airports and aviation have the potential to unwittingly increase the rate at which disease spreads, particularly in the case of an international outbreak of communicable disease such as SARS or the bird flu. 

For airport operators, the main aims are to protect the health and welfare of travelers, staff and the public, and to reduce the opportunities for the spread of communicable diseases by air. Sea-Tac Airport therefore is constantly reviewing its emergency contingency plans and periodically conducting exercises together with federal, state and local government agencies to look at how the airport can most effectively respond to communicable disease outbreaks and minimize the spread of such diseases. 

When an infectious disease outbreak strikes, it is often our most vulnerable populations – populations that lack access to adequate preventive health care services – that take the brunt of the impact.  Health officials in Seattle are finding a significant amount of TB cases in the city’s homeless population.

Seattle is home to several internationally recognized organizations that are working hard to eradicate the threat of these infectious diseases. For example, one that I had the privilege to serve on the board of trustees of from 2003 to 2009 is Seattle BioMed.  Seattle BioMed (www.seattlebiomed.org) is dedicated to research toward diagnostics, drugs and vaccines against infectious diseases.   The diseases that Seattle BioMed focuses on include AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and many emerging and/or neglected diseases of the developing world, including Chagas’ Disease, African Sleeping Sickness and Leishmaniasis. 

Many organizations like this raise a significant amount of their funds through foundations and other major funders of research.  The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation based in Seattle (www.gatesfoundation.org) has become a leading funder of global health research.  However, they also rely very much on donations from the community in order to do this important research. While money is tight for many families in this economy, even a small donation to these research institutes is incredibly helpful.  It is something we should all consider.