Communicable Diseases : Communicable Disease

This epidemic is widespread and impacts a large and diverse group of society. In 2015, there were 194,716

- sexual contact (pathogens transmitted in any sexual contact, which can cause e.g. HIV, gonorrhoea),

According to public health officials in order to avoid serious outbreaks, the vaccination rate in the United States needs to rise higher then 95%. As a healthcare provider to see the vaccination rate increase by 2% by the year 2017 is possible. Over the years vaccinations have been know to prevent

In United States: the ratio is 1 in 110 on average (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31 March 2011)

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention about 5.7 million people in the United

Chickenpox’s history has various contributors. Several corpses have been found with chickenpox as the apparent cause of death. In the 1500s, an Italian physician Giovanni Filippo gave the first description of varicella in literature and clearly distinguished it from scarlet fever; he is also known for other several important contributions to medicine, anatomy, and virology. In the late 1600s, English physician Richard Morton gave the name chickenpox to what he thought was a milder form of smallpox. Another English physician, William Heberden, undertook the first independent study of the disease in 1767, and he proved that chickenpox was actually different from smallpox. Since then much more information has been learned about chickenpox.

Throughout history, infectious diseases have impacted communities around the world. Outbreaks of bacteria and viruses in the past have damaged cities and devastated populations. Over the years, new developments in technology have led to advances in medicine and health. The great strides that have been made over the years have helped improve the lives of individuals and have led to a better environment.

Smallpox is a contagious deadly disease that can easily be transferred from one person to another either by face-to-face contact or direct contact with bodily fluids such as sweat and saliva from someone who’s infected such as sneezing, coughing, or skin touching. They can also spread from being in contact with contaminated objects as well. Those who are infected usually doesn’t know they are infected until 7-17 days later when they start developing flu like symptoms such as a high fever beyond 101 Fahrenheit, fatigue, headache, and backache. The only way for doctors to diagnose this disease is by checking its main and most common feature. The appearance of smallpox are pus-filled blisters that forms on the skin during illness and the number of those blisters increases over time as shown in the picture below, and eventually they becomes scabs. The person will continuously remain infectious and contagious until the last remaining scab separates from the body.

Un-vaccinated individuals put those who are unable to receive vaccinations in danger. Individuals with certain medical conditions, such as pregnant women or individuals, who are undergoing cancer treatment, as well as children who are too young to be vaccinated, are unable to receive vaccines, which makes these individuals very vulnerable to illness. Vaccines can help prevent the spread of contagious disease to these individuals (CDC). These individuals rely on herd immunity to prevent contraction of

Wynia, in his journal from the American Medical Association presented interesting statistical data about the benefits of childhood vaccinations. In this article he points out three years before initiating mandatory childhood vaccinations the number of reported death cases for Small Pox was 48,164, Diphtheria 175,885 and Measles 503,282. After starting the vaccination process the reported death cases for Small Pox was zero, Diphtheria was four and Measles was eighty one.

The person should avoid scratching or rubbing the itchy areas and keep their fingernails short to avoid damaging the skin. The infected person should avoid prolonged exposure to excessive heat and humidity. The use of over- the counter antihistamines or hydrocortisone creams may be recommended for itch relief. Some doctors may prescribe antivirals if the rash began within 24 hours. Antiviral medication is not usually prescribed to otherwise healthy children who do not have severe symptoms. Antivirals are usually prescribed to high-risk groups whom are prone to severe symptoms such as eczema, lung conditions, or who immunocompromised individuals. The infected person should also be advised to avoid aspirin due to association with a serious condition called Reyes syndrome or Ibuprofen due to the association of more severe secondary infections. Tylenol is recommended for fever relief. Some complications that can occur are bacterial infections secondary to scratching, encephalitis, pneumonia and death. The preventions of chickenpox are acquired by vaccination with the varicella vaccine in children, adolescents, and adults, and the herpes zoster vaccine for persons of 60 and older (Maurer&Smith). The Centers for Disease and controls estimates that 95% of Americans will have chickenpox by the time they reach adulthood. The CDC also estimates that there are 4 million cases with a100 deaths and 9300 hospitalizations a

Before vaccines were introduced, varicella was endemic in the United States, and virtually all persons acquired varicella at some point before adulthood (cdc.gov, 2006). It is reported that 4 million cases of chickenpox were recorded in the U.S. each year before the vaccine was introduced. Although some states reported cases of varicella to the CDC, it was eliminated from the list of nationally notifiable conditions in 1981. Children under 10 years of age make up between 75 – 90 % of chickenpox cases. In 1995, due to the availability of the vaccine in the U.S., hospitalizations due to chickenpox has declined by nearly 90% (Hambleton, & Gershon, 2005).

“Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events (including disease), and the application of this study to the control of diseases and other health problems (WHO, 2015)”. “Various methods can be used to carry out epidemiological investigations: surveillance and descriptive studies can be used to study distribution; analytical studies are used to study determinants (WHO, 2015)”.This paper discusses about epidemiology of HIV infection, including factors that contribute the development of the disease, epidemiologic triangle, role of community health nurse and the national organization that address the communicable disease.

Epidemiology is a medical science discipline that arranges the structure for studying the distribution and determinants of health, communicable disease, and circumstances related to health status. The epidemiology research help to understand in what means a person catch diseases, the changes, and how the disease affect the population. The nurses that work with these communities to help identify the onset of communicable diseases determine new victims, the patterns it spread, the causes or preventive methods are known as community or public health nursing (Maurer, Smith, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to explain on the concepts of a communicable disease “Chickenpox” with its own unique epidemiology and nursing research to this

Infections disease prevention and control and communicable and infectious disease risks are important topics that every student nurse should be exposed to during the nursing program. The impact and threats that these infectious diseases cause an effect on society and global level should be studied. Also, the economic principles to nursing and health care that public health contributes to.