[bayesianhorse]

I sometimes wonder how much of "we never heard of x/y/z disease 10-15 years ago" is due to less frequent testing.

[openforce]

Significant number, maybe. Penetration of medical services in these countries has increased quite a lot in the same time span. But, impact of this depends on the type of disease.

Significant increase in breast cancer cases for example is I believe a direct result of increased diagnosis. But, for the increase in cases of viral diseases, I believe the majority cause is due to things like more dense population, unsanitary conditions and poor infrastructure.

[bayesianhorse]

I'd exclude breast cancer because it's detectable with non-medical means before it becomes fatal. I also wasn't speaking so much about medical incidence statistics, but more about perceptions.

[ufo]

Diseases like this are something that forces you go to the doctor, where its gonna gain a diagnosis. With diseases like Zika and Chikungunya the big problem is globalization and air travel.

[bayesianhorse]

How is a doctor supposed to diagnose a Virus like Zika without advanced lab tests? The symptoms are non-specific and often non-obvious. In fact, I doubt Zika virus was regularly tested for.

[blowski]

Also, social media and the 24 hour rolling news cycle give a lot more coverage than 20th Century TV news bulletins and newspapers.