Current Interventions And Impact Of Lymphatic Filariasis

Take a good look. These are the effects of just some of dozens of infectious diseases we are dealing with today. Pretty gross isn’t it? Well here is the good news. These diseases are preventable. With the medical achievement of vaccinations, most viral infections have been significantly reduced if not completely eradicated. Everyone should get their vaccinations in order to protect both themselves and the people around them.

* Collaborating with government and international agencies to reduce mortality and expand measles elimination goals on a global level. ("Vaccines and

This strategy involves trying to prevent diseases and to stop them from spreading and being passed on though the community, for example HIV can be controlled by tracking the number of people affected, the government can provide subsidised drugs to people with HIV . Also there is food hygiene measures in restaurants and take away’s to control the spread of food poisoning, for example signs up around the kitchen in food places, and there should be labels with names of what the food is/ingredients on packages, and best before date so you know to chuck it away if it’s out of date. For measles and mumps and rubella,

This means that the travel and tourism industry needs to make sure that they develop scanning technique or some way of identifying if someone has a superbug and then have adequate quarantine places in place in order to prevent the superbugs from spreading from other countries. They would need these provisions to be in place at all ports and airports and

The ability to contribute to designing prevention and control strategies to prevent endemic or epidemic transmission in the United States was intriguing. As a NACCHO Policy Scholar with the Infectious Disease department, I was thrilled to work on two exciting public health projects; the Flu Near You and HIV/AIDS Policy Initiative Project. Both projects are in line with my areas of interest as a Public health practitioner and included a review of evidenced based literature to understand effective strategies and interventions that could be adopted in these projects.

During 1977 in Copen hang, a lady died after being diagnosed with pneumocystis pneumonia shortly after her immune system failed her with no signs before doing so. However, in Paris during 1978 a man was diagnosed with pneumocystis pneumonia, he showed symptoms of fungus in his mouth, warts on his hands and legs, and a toxoplasmosis cat disease that was eating away his brain. After this outrageous outbreak of pneumocystis pneumonia, doctors in Paris came to the conclusion that they should look more into this since people don’t usually die from this illness. This was an important moment because doctors should have been more attentive to patients who were being diagnosed with the pneumocystis pneumonia. This was the start of a coactive enterprise. Doctors wanted their patients to be more than just victims who were all

Currently, this disease affects approximately 371 million people of the world 's population with incidence and prevalence rates rising rapidly (Alotabi, A., Al-Ganmi, A., Gholizadeh, L., and Perry, L, 2016). According to Center for Disease

In medical care, institutional procedures and policies for monitoring and attempting to control the transmission of communicable diseases. This includes establishing mandatory sanitation, steriliza-tion, hand hygiene, and isolation procedures.

Treatment or prevention? Schweitzer and Theresa, or Snow and Semmelweiss? I am persuaded that both sides are needful. Looking at the definitions of both terms, it is my estimation that both treatment and prevention allows us to move towards a supplementary relationship between investing in health education and the various aspects of preventative medicine, and the tremendous outpour of resources that are devoted to medical care concentrated on reducing the duration and severity of diseases. In the cases of contagious disease, some would argue in favor of “one bad apple spoiling the bunch,” while others contend that if the bunch is cared for, “we’ll less likely see any bad apples.” (). If we look at this concern in terms of a family unit,

Numerous diseases that used to be widespread in the U.S. are now nearly eliminated. “An epidemic of rubella in 1964-65 infected 12½ million Americans, killed 2,000 babies, and caused 11,000 miscarriages. In 2012, 9 cases of rubella were reported to CDC.” (What Would Happen If We Stopped Vaccinations?) Another disease that prevailed before its vaccine was polio, as you can see in this graph. The red line shows when the polio vaccine was introduced. In 2014, CNN reported that “Just five years ago, India was home to nearly half the global polio cases and considered one of the most technically difficult places to eradicate the disease, because of sanitation challenges and high-density population. India has been certified polio-free by the World Health Organization after going three years without an endemic case of polio. The eradication of polio in India is heralded as one of the biggest achievements in global health efforts.” (Madison Park) However, this isn’t the only success story, these are the percent decreases of before and after certain vaccines were introduced in the U.S. Here, diphtheria has a 100 percent decrease in the U.S after its vaccine was introduced. From 21,000 cases of diphtheria, there are now ZERO endemic cases in the U.S. What about measles? Before its vaccine, there were roughly 530,000 cases each year in

Lymphatic filariasis is a vector borne disease that can serve in the role of infectious disease by harboring pathogens that cause disease only in susceptible populations. Lymphatic filariasis is spread by infected mosquitoes because their bites deposition travels to the lymphatic system, causing it to affect the lymph nodes and lymph vessels. This is in over 80 tropical and subtropical countries, but mainly found in India. In some cases, Filariasis is one of the leading disability that can affect 120 million citizens but it is very rare. In time, the damage to the lymphatic system can cause swelling in the legs, arms, and genitals. This disease increases the risk of more bacterial infections that causes the skin to thicken and harden. In the

Over 120 million people worldwide are affected by lymphatic filariasis. This disease is caused by nematode worms, most of the cases being from a species known as Wuchereria bancrofti, or just W. bancrofti. Those who experience the conditions of the disease the worst are older individuals whom have lived in an endemic area for an extended period of time. This is because of the long gestational period for the parasitic presence to become prevalent by repeated mosquito bites and by the larva reproducing. (USAID, 2014)

DOTS also involves case detection through patient reporting, sputum smears and quality bacteriology. (26). Detection of all cases ensures every affected individual has equal access to treatment, meaning it is necessary to increase availability of health services. Political influence and funding enables distribution of health services to every affected area in South Africa and at a low cost, ensuring everyone in need is able to receive care. Additionally, it is necessary to have a standardised treatment program involving supervision and patient support. (26) This means every affected individual receives the same care and are guided through the treatment to maximise completion. Once again, this strategy will only be realised through increased funding, greater access to health services and increased support throughout the treatment process. Therefore, communities should establish patient support groups for those receiving treatment, or families

Among the areas of research used are epidemiology (the scientific study of factors affecting the health and illness of individuals and populations), chemotherapy (the use of chemical substances to treat disease), immunology (a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms) and pathology (the study of the processes underlying disease and other forms of illness, harmful abnormality or dysfunction). Exciting advances that promise to reduce parasitic disease have come from parasitologists’ basic research in the fields of molecular and cellular biology, genetics and physiology. Promising breakthroughs in the development of vaccines against disease-causing parasites exist because of technological and conceptual advances in these fields as well as in allied disciplines such as immunology and biochemistry. The field of public health is allied closely with medical parasitology. Public health practitioners are employed by national, state and local governments and can work for international agencies such as the World Health Organization. Private industry, philanthropic and charitable organizations, military organizations and a variety of other institutions also employ the services of public health

However, progress is being made. In 1951, there were 15 million leprosy sufferers world-wide. Today, the W.H.O. (World Health Organization) estimates that 6 million people remain to be treated, either through chemotherapy, or physiotherapy/surgery, or both. It should also be remembered that even though many patients are being cured, thousands still suffer because of deformity and stigma. They may have become bacteriologically "negative" but a prejudiced, uneducated, and ill-informed society may still reject them because of these disabilities that they had absolutely no control over. We may be able to kill off their germs, but we cannot restore their sightless eyes or amputated limbs. Incidentally, many of their insensitive, ulcerated fingers and toes are eaten off, not by the leprosy germ, but by rats and other animals. For this reason, early diagnosis, along with early treatment and health education, are of vital importance.