Anthrax Essay

Nurses are the first to assess patients that are seeking health care services. Nurses are the Frontline Warriors who risk their own lives to provide care for others (Ungar, 2014). They are the Frontline Warriors who diagnose the care of patients to ensure doctor orders are accurate before care is practiced. A recent study estimates 12 million Americans are misdiagnose every year and 6 million results in serious outcome (Singh, Meyer & Thomas, 2013). Without effective communication and quality management protocols, misdiagnoses may cause possible harm to patients, healthcare workers, and the population. For instance, on September 24, 2014, Thomas Duncan, a man from Liberia in his early 40’s went to Texas Health

At the first possible outbreak of SARS, the nurse will need to follow protocol. The initiation of the protocol begins with an assessment of the patient. A doctor will determine if the patient is possibly infected with SARS by following the physical and epidemiologic criteria. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention mandates reporting to the all cases where the patient has pneumonia of an unknown origin, and could have recently been exposed of the SARS virus [ (Center of Disease Control, 2005) ]. Once the report has been made the community health nurse should have all hospitalized patients with respiratory symptoms questioned on their recent history and possibilities of contact with the virus. Next, the community health nurse needs to educate staff and the community about possible ways to contract SARS, and encourage behaviors such as, frequent hand washing, covering their nose and mouth while coughing or sneezing, and using and properly disposing of tissues for respiratory secretions. [ (Center of Disease Control, 2005) ] Once health care members and the public are educated on the route of transmission they can prevent being exposed. Confirmed infected patients would be transferred to Seattle, where they can be in isolation rooms, patients can be more critically monitored, and research centers can be of benefit to

Vaccinations have been a topic of controversy among various populations for decades. The controversy exists around the decision to be vaccinated for certain contagious diseases or to omit receiving vaccinations for various reasons including those of medical, ethical, and religious derivation. The profession of healthcare faces a particular obstacle in regard to annual vaccinations against influenza. This review will discuss the following ethical debate: Is it ethical to mandate health care workers to receive annual influenza vaccinations? For the purposes of this review, the term ‘health care worker’ will be defined as any person who is employed by a health care institution and participates in personal interactions with patients. Undoubtedly, registered nurses (RNs) are among the most prevalent of all health care workers. This topic was chosen because influenza is a rampant and contagious respiratory virus that carries the potential to infect anyone. According the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) (2014), approximately 5 to 15 percent of the United States population becomes infected with influenza annually and roughly 200,000 people are hospitalized each year due to influenza. Clearly, influenza generates havoc for many people; however, the virus can be largely prevented by receiving an annual vaccination. Annual influenza vaccinations have been rendered the best way to prevent seasonal influenza and have also been deemed safe (CDC, 2014). Health care workers

In a response to the polio outbreak of 1916, Dr. Haven Emerson, the Health Commissioner for New York City, stated: “we have learned little that is new about the disease, but much that is old about ourselves.” The meaning of this has to do with the ideology that no matter the era, people have a common response to the outbreak of contagious disease. Human nature supplies us as humans with a common reaction to dealing with disease, and it is one that can be seen during the Black Death, polio epidemics, and ebola epidemics, as well as many other epidemics. These responses can be both positive and negative, and often have to do with containment of the disease, preventative measures - which may or may not be effective; and scapegoating. Although there may be individualized responses for each of these diseases, the way in which the health-care officers and the public handle the outbreak of disease generally follows the same pattern overall.

The year is 1721, and the up and coming port city of Boston is stricken with a massive outbreak of the smallpox disease. Within months, hundreds upon hundreds of colonial Bostonians were wiped out as a result of contracting the disease, and panic soon engulfed the city. In due course, the technique of inoculating (which involved cutting into a healthy individual and inserting the flesh of one with a particular disease, in an attempt to build up antibodies against the pathogen) was introduced as a viable solution. It is important to note, however, that not all of the city’s leaders agreed that this was the best course of action to be taken. Also, the important issue of individual rights versus the welfare of the general public (which has been

Healthcare in early America was not based on scientific medicine and healthcare facilities were limited to “at home” care. The view of health care was focused on epidemics of acute infections related to poor food, water, housing and sanitation resulting limited to untrained physicians an d nurses that were inadequate to provide sustainable life saving care (Williams & Torrens, 2008). Since health care was limited to the home or charity, very little progress was made to on the prevention of diseases. During the early 1800’s towns like North Carolina had no way to combat the spread of diseases like small pox, therefore their only option was to introduce maritime quarantine that would later lay the groundwork for advances in control measures for epidemic diseases (Watson, 2013). These measures helped limit the spread of the disease but failed to address disease management. However the advancement of medical schools such as Harvard

Due to lack of funds, George Washington managed to lead his troops to survive the harsh conditions of the Valley Forge winter. Afterwards, they experienced their second obstacle: small pox. Small pox is a European disease, and since the colonists have been isolated from this illness for nearly two centuries (chapter 3, slides), they did not have the immune system to overcome it. George Washington took a gamble and decided to expose the healthy soldiers with the small pox virus, modern day known as vaccination. His gamble paid off, losing only 1 in 50 soldiers to small pox rather than losing a few thousands

PA is one out of three components that are large, soluble proteins responsible for creating the anthrax toxin [12]. The other two components are the edema factor (EF) and lethal factor (LF) [12]. EF and LF respectively cause cells to swell (edema) or cause cell lysis, death [12]. PA comes into play by delivering EF and LF into the host’s cells. When PA is combined with either EF or LF, an edema toxin or lethal toxin is produced [12].

It mostly occurs to people aged 15-44 with a percentage rate of 45.8%. Anthrax may cause pneumonia and lead to death.

Protecting the public’s health historically has been a state and local responsibility. However, the growing threat of bioterrorism has highlighted the importance of a strong public health infrastructure to the nation’s homeland security and has focused increased attention on the preparedness of the public health system (Frist, 2011). Since the 2001 anthrax attacks Congress has passed new legislation to increase the strength of the nation’s public health system thus the funding has also rapidly increased to meet the potential demand. There is an ongoing debate however, as to what level of contribution local, state, and federal agency’s feel is an appropriate level of ongoing public health investments.

Anthrax- a notifiable bacterial disease of sheep and cattle, typically affecting the skin and lungs. It can be transmitted to humans, causing severe skin ulceration or a form of pneumonia. The Bacteria is called Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax was recorded as the 5th plague in the Book of Genisis in 1491 B.C.. After the Egyptians discovered the disease by killing infected cattle, outbreaks were appearing in places where Romans, Hindus and Greeks lived. The 1st recorded cases of anthrax in the 1800’s were from European people working with dead animal bones and wool. The workers would contract it by the 2 types of disease, Inhalation Anthrax and Cutaneous Anthrax. Years later, Americans began to see infections in people who handled materials with

During the fall of 2001, five or more letters were received in the mail by the offices of two U.S. Senators, and news organizations in New York and Florida. The letters contained a dry, powdered, and especially virulent and airborn form of the anthrax bacteria, as well as a handwritten note (D.O.J., 2010). As a result of these mailings, five people lost their lives, 31 more contracted anthrax but did not die, and ten thousand more received prophylactic antibiotics on the basis of estimated exposure risk (D.O.J., 2010). In August 2008, nearly seven years after the deadly anthrax attacks, the FBI announced that research scientist Bruce Ivins

Most of the antibiotics for anthrax are administered intravenously in a hospital. When anthrax spores get inside the body, they will be “activated”. Once they are “activated”, the bacteria will grow and multiply. During the process of growth they produce toxins that are the main cause of severe illness. When antitoxins are used to treat patients, it must be coupled with other treatment options. There is a vaccine available for anthrax that comes in a 5 shot grouping over 18 months. The vaccine is recommended for members of the United States Military, laboratory workers who come in contact with anthrax and people who handle animals or animal products on a regular basis such as veterinarians. The vaccine is currently only provided to those who have an increased risk of coming into contact with anthrax spores. It is not permitted for anyone under the age of 18 or over the age of 65 as well as during or pregnant

Since there are different forms of anthrax infection, there are different tests that can be done to diagnose each of them. For cutaneous anthrax, the best way to diagnose it is through the staining of the suspected lesion with methylene blue or Giemsa stain. In this procedure, the organism may be differentiated from a non- Bacillus anthracis. B. anthracis is classified as a gram-positive bacillus bacterium. Another way is through blood testing if the patient is showing symptoms of fever. The bacteria may be identified if there is a lack of hemolysis, motility, sacilin fermentation, gelatin hydrolysis, and growth on phenelethyl alcohol medium. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay also known as ELISA, can be used to recognize lethal toxins, edema

Although doctors were supposed to be considered medical experts, they were not taken seriously due to the fact that a patient had less than a fifty percent chance of benefiting from a doctor’s visit (“The 1920s: Medicine and Health: Overview”, n.p.). Doctors struggled to diagnose and fix medical problems due to inexperience and lack of tools (“The 1920s: Medicine and Health: Overview”, n.p.). As a result of the substandard medical community, maternal deaths and child deaths were commonplace, while simple sicknesses often turned into fatal infections (“The 1920s: Medicine and Health: Overview”, n.p.). When the first wave of the influenza pandemic struck in the spring of 1918, the medical community was taken aback by the pandemic’s unpredicted wrath (Peters, 13). The typically mellow influenza virus, characterized by familiar symptoms of fever, headache, fatigue, cough, sore throat, congestion, and body aches, claimed victims within hours (Peters, ix, 1-5). This was a sickness like no other, and it left the medical community baffled. Doctors nor medical experts knew what the sickness was, why it was spreading, what was causing it, or how to fix it (Peters, 1-5). All branches of the medical field practically shut down: researchers found no potential