What exactly is Epidemiology? It is the distribution of health related events, which includes diseases, and the application of this study to control diseases and other health related issues (Epidemiology). One may ponder on whether it helps or causes panic when information about outbreaks is made public. That question will be analyzed through the use of many articles and well known journals.
“Epidemiology is important to the study of environmental health problems because many exposures and health effects associated with the environment occur at the population level” (Friis, R.). The flu, the swine flu (H1N1), and most recently, the Ebola virus, were all epidemics. All of these outbreaks killed many people, but by the time Ebola reached the
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U.S., America knew how to handle it and the U.S. did not face as much mortality as West Africa did. Discussion Influenza The commonly known virus Influenza made its first hit in 1890 then again in 1918-1919 (Influenza Strikes). This flu was spreading amongst military workers, then to their families in different countries, and then to their friends. The reason why influenza had such a dramatic impact was because the flu has multiple strands that constantly change each year. Once America understood the flu they were able to create a vaccine, however, that vaccine only protects you from one strand of the virus. So, the chances of one catching the flu after getting a flu vaccine as still present. Once officials gained information on this pandemic and how many people this virus, was affecting, they began to create laws that required one to wear masks, cities closed may public areas like movie theaters, school, pool halls, etc. Even advertisements arouse claiming that alcohol would cure influenza, causing alcohol supplies to run low. States also banned spitting, suggesting that this was a cause of the influenza spread (The Great Pandemic). None of these provided an effective way in limiting the spread of influenza. The country was not properly educating citizens on the risks and proper preventions of the spread of this virus, which caused people to either ignore newspaper postings, and flyers around town or just completely misinterpret what these posters were saying and continue on with their daily lives and normal hygiene routines. H1N1 virus (Swine Flu) The pandemic of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as “swine flu” started in the year of 2009.
This was called the “swine flu” due to the fact that its gene segments were similar to those found in pigs. “CDC believes that this virus resulted from reassortment, a process through which two or more influenza viruses can swap genetic information by infecting a single human or animal host” (Origin of 2009 H1N1 Flu). So, this virus was possibly circulating within herds of North America pigs and Eurasian pigs. When this virus came into the public it did scare citizens, especially individuals who were in closed areas with large amounts of people, like schools and businesses, it did frighten people overall. The precautions of human to human transmission is the same for the influenza, wash hands, cover mouths while sneezing or coughing with a tissue or with your arm. Luckily, throughout these different experiences the U.S has been through, scientists have been able to develop a vaccine that covers the H1N1 strain, along with the seasonal flu that spreads every year here in the …show more content…
U.S. Ebola virus Ebola started amongst West African countries.
This virus lives within fruit bats, moneys, gorillas, etc. It was learned that this transmission occurred when these animals would release bodily fluids, blood, or other secretions into areas that are in contact with humans. Humans then contracted this virus and it spread to other humans by direct contact, contact with infected bodily fluids, or contact with other bodily fluids. Due to the lack of health care, health systems, and health resources, there’s no proper treatment for these people who contract the virus. This virus got into the U.S. by an individual who was infected with Ebola came to the U.S.
Once the public found out about this fatal virus, everyone was outraged. This was probably one of the most frightening uproars in health related events experienced in the U.S. The way hospitals handled this situation was if anyone expressed the following symptoms of fever, vomiting, or diarrhea, they would be asked if they have traveled outside of the country recently or have been in contact with anyone that has been outside of the country. If answered yes, providers would place the patient in an isolation room and expedite the proper treatment for this infection.
Conclusion Overall, these viruses did spread throughout the whole world. When something that severe happens to the world or entire country, the public is going to be informed and will cause uproar of some sort. Whether the public is informed directly or indirectly, there is no way around that. How the CDC or WHO distributes this information to the public is what’s important, so when presenting the risks of an epidemic they need to determine how much of the population will be effected or is effected by the amount of cases reported. This could be described as analytic epidemiology. “Calculating the occurrence of a disease in populations according to classification by person, place, and time variables” (Friis, R.). This would be described as descriptive epidemiology. Then, determine what can be done to help decrease the rate of expansion of this virus.
[1, 4, 5, 9, 13] There have been no documented cases where a human has contracted the disease from another human. [4] It appears, based on field and lab data, that infection requires direct contact with the virus through means such as contact with infective bodily secretions, urine, or tissues. [12] It is unknown to scientists how the virus can be maintained in the bat populations and avoids extinction as the host species becomes immune to its presence. [14] The incubation period from time of infection to the onset of symptoms is about 5-14 days in experimentally induced animals [4] and 8-14 days in natural field cases.
This virus is similar to Ebola, because it started in the same place. Lab workers in Germany, in 1967, contracted the new virus while working with African Green Monkeys, which had the virus. The virus is described as a hemorrhagic fever. It has a fatality rate up to 90% and spreads through human to human contact. The first symptoms can be as simple as a fever and a headache, then can progress to organ failure, and fatal internal bleeding.
At the time, the Influenza of 1918 was called the Spanish Flu. Spain was not involved in the expanding great war (i.e., World War I) and therefore was not censoring it's press. However, Germany, Britain, and America were censoring their newspapers for anything that would lower morale. Therefore, Spain was the first country to publish accounts of the pandemic (Barry 171 and Furman 326), even though the pandemic most likely started in either France or the United States. It was also unique in it's deadliness; it “killed more people in a year than the Black Death of the Middle Ages killed in a century” (Barry 5). In the United States, the experience during the pandemic varied from location to location. Some areas were better off whereas some were hit horribly by the disease, such as Philadelphia. It also came as a shock to many, though some predicted it's coming; few thought it would strike with the speed and lethality that it did. Though the inherent qualities of the flu enabled its devastation of the country, the response to the flu was in part responsible as well. The response to the pandemic was reasonable, given the dire situation, but not sufficient enough to prevent unnecessary death and hardship, especially in Philadelphia.
In an effort to analyze the natural history of a disease, an epidemiological triangle is used. An epidemiological triangle is comprised of a susceptible host or individual, environment, and a causative agent. The host tends to have low immunity, poor nutrition, and a concurrent disease. The host tends to have poor
It has not taken human to human transmission yet, that we know of. So far all cases of the virus result from people coming into close contact with bird blood or droppings. If the transmission of the virus does take human to human form, it could unleash a global pandemic. This is the first time in history that humans have been able to prepare themselves for an epidemic. The bird flu virus travels with migrating birds.
Ebola, a virus which acquires its name from the Ebola River (located in Zaire, Africa), first emerged in September 1976, when it erupted simultaneously in 55 villages near the headwaters of the river. It seemed to come out of nowhere, and resulted in the deaths of nine out of every ten victims. Although it originated over 20 years ago, it still remains as a fear among African citizens, where the virus has reappeared occasionally in parts of the continent. In fact, and outbreak of the Ebola virus has been reported in Kampala, Uganda just recently, and is still a problem to this very day. Ebola causes severe viral hemorrhagic fevers in humans and monkeys, and has a 90 % fatality rate. Though there is no cure for the disease, researchers have found limited medical possibilities to help prevent one from catching this horrible virus.
Influenza, an innocent little virus that annually comes and goes, has always been a part of people’s lives. Knowing this, one would not believe that it has caused not one, not two, but three pandemics and is on its way to causing a fourth! The Spanish flu of 1918, the Asian flu of 1957, and the Hong Kong flu of 1968 each killed millions of people worldwide, causing mass terror. People were mad with fear, and for good reason, as friends, family, neighbors dropped dead like flies. And yet, as soon as the deaths ceased, the forgetfulness set in… until very few know about these pandemics. These pieces of history may have faded from memory, but with the upcoming threat of an avian flu which can jump from human to human, people must learn from the past to combat the future.
Although it’s still unknown exactly where the specific strain of influenza that caused the pandemic came from, the 1918 flu was first observed in Europe, the U.S., and parts of Asia before spreading around the world in a matter of months. Spain was one of the earliest countries to be hit by the disease, giving it the name the Spanish Flu, despite the fact that it wasn’t isolated in one place. An estimated 20 million to 50 million victims were killed by the flu, though other estimates run as high as 100 million. It’s impossible to know exact numbers due to the lack of medical records kept at the time. Surprisingly, many of these victims were previously healthy, young adults that were normally resistant to that type of contagious disease. Like many other illnesses during this time, doctors had no idea what caused the flu or how to treat it because there were no effective vaccines or drugs to treat the flu. Making matters worse, World War l had left most of America with a shortage of physicians, and many of those available came down with the flu themselves. Schools and homes had to be used as makeshift hospitals run by medical students because hospitals in some areas were so crammed with patients. The public health departments imposed quarantines and ordinances in an attempt to confine the spread of the disease. Citizens were ordered to wear
The influenza pandemic occurred in a manner that shocked many. It spread extremely fast which finally brought it to the attention of the government. The fact that World War I was going on pressured governments even more to do something about the pandemic (Hayes 390). The public health authorities in the United States created their plan of containment similar to what they did with the Bubonic plague. Their plan of action was to reduce contact between individuals. Their ideas were created based on their knowledge of how the virus spread which was through the air by coughing and sneezing. Since they came to the conclusion that the virus spread through the air, they tried to limit the contact between the effected and those not effected so they would not share the same air. Public gatherings and meeting places were seen as a threat and a great place for the virus to spread and so were closed down. In the United States, the Committee of the American Public Health Association, APHA, created measures that greatly limited public gatherings. They concluded that the gathering of bodies in a single space in which breath was shared was dangerous. Many places of entertainment such as theatres, saloons, and dance halls were closed. Even public funerals were banned. Schools were cl...
Thesis Statement: The deadly virus Ebola is killing thousands of innocent people world wide, but there are some simple steps that are being taken to prevent this coming tide of death.
One of the current major concerns in the world is the outbreak of Ebola. Ebola is a infectious disease that comes from the Ebola virus and it can cause death if the patient is left untreated. The disease can be managed with treatment of the patient, however. Ebola is a disease that is a major concern in the Subsaharan African Realm, and in the North American Realm,but it is beginning to be dealt with sufficiently in the Northern American Realm.
Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study of the demographics of disease processes, including the study of epidemics and other diseases that are common enough to allow statistical tools to be applied. It is an important supporting branch of medicine, helping to find the causes of diseases and ways of prevention. It can, using statistical methods such as large-scale population studies, prove or disprove treatment hypotheses. Another major use of epidemiology is to identify risk factors for diseases. Epidemiological studies generally focus on large groups of people and relate to a target population that can be identified.
In the 1960s, doctors in the United States predicted that infectious diseases were in decline. US surgeon Dr. William H. Stewart told the nation that it had already seen most of the frontiers in the field of contagious disease. Epidemiology seemed destined to become a scientific backwater (Karlen 1995, 3). Although people thought that this particular field was gradually dying, it wasn’t. A lot more of it was destined to come. By the late 1980s, it became clear that people’s initial belief of infectious diseases declining needed to be qualified, as a host of new diseases emerged to infect human beings (Smallman & Brown, 2011).With the current trends, the epidemics and pandemics we have faced have created a very chaotic and unreliable future for mankind. As of today, it has really been difficult to prevent global epidemics and pandemics. Although the cases may be different from one state to another, the challenges we all face are all interconnected in this globalized world.
This disease was first diagnosed in 1918 and it was referred to as the “Spanish Flu” or “La Grippe.” To this day it is thought to of been the same strain as the swine influenza however it is still unclear. For this particular outbreak it’s not exactly know whether humans contracted the virus from pigs or vice versa. Either way between 20-40 million people died from it. The first confirmed case of H1N1 in the U.S. was diagnosed on April 15th, 2009. The CDC quickly began developing a vaccine due to the fact that it was declared a public health emergency about a week later by the government. It tu...
Discussions throughout this essay will focus on the relevance of epidemiology to public health; firstly the concepts of epidemiology will be discussed alongside two examples of why epidemiology is relevant in the 21st century.