Communicable Viral Infections
Communicable diseases can be transmitted from one person or animal to another; they can be passed directly or indirectly; and can sometimes require a quarantine of the suspected carrier in order to prevent the spread of disease. Victims of human trafficking, both labor and forced prostitution, are often housed together in cramped, unsanitary conditions with inadequate ventilation and exposure to natural elements. According to the World Health Organization, Population overcrowding has been identified as a health risk by infectious disease experts, linking poor respiratory health and infectious disease to the problem (WHO, 1999). One person infected can spread disease quite rapidly. Historically, communicable diseases found in conditions of overcrowding have been cholera and typhoid —caused by contaminated water; TB—contracted by breathing in the exhaled sputum of someone who already has the disease; typhus—caused by lice; influenza—caused by skin to skin contact, small droplets that form when a person sneezes or coughs; Zika—contracted by a mosquito bite from the Aedes aegypti, the main vector of several viruses, including dengue and yellow fever (Mclendon, 2016). Overcrowding in brothels, forced labor factories, and housing in agricultural settings puts human trafficking victims in high risk environments for acquiring an infectious disease. A community’s consumption rate of goods and illegal services supported by human trafficking increases the risk and likelihood of an epidemic-like spread of infectious disease throughout that community.
