Legionnaires’ outbreak in the Bronx: Legionella – disease, symptoms & treatments Over the past month ten people have died and one-hundred have fallen ill due to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in the South Bronx section of New York State. Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the Legionella bacterium has been detected in two apartment houses, the Bronx County Hall of Justice, The Bronx General Post Office and the Samuel Gompers High School at the present time. Five other Bronx locations have also been tested positive and the mayor insists that the city is winning the battle against the outbreak. According to a news story shared by Newsweek on August 9, the fatal form of bacterial pneumonia is tapering off and officials are attempting to contain the outbreak within the New York City’s South Bronx neighborhood.
State and federal agencies are involved in this matter and taking it very seriously. They believe this is a critical health care emergency. Dr. Jasen Kunz of the National Center for Environmental Health and Dr. Claressa Lucas of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases will be leading a team of one hundred and fifty state officials to
…show more content…
It is not an airborne bacterium nor can it be transmitted from person to person. The elderly and any individual that has pre-existing respiratory conditions, chronic lung disease, smoke have asthma, or are fifty years of age or older are at a higher risk of death if diagnosed with this disease. The bacteria or bacterium, Legionella enters and is transmitted through the lungs from either inhalation of aerosolized contaminated soil and/or water or by aspirating contaminated water. Legionnaires’ disease can lead to life-threatening complications such as; respiratory failure, septic shock, acute kidney failure and even
Community health nurses face many concerns that can create environmental and global health issues. In history, humans have battled many health epidemics, from as early as the black plague, to polio, and more recent issues of measles, small pox, and HIV/AIDS. Many vaccines have been created and billions of lives have been saved, but there is still many unimmunized. Communities worldwide are at risk for many communicable diseases and should be prepared and knowledgeable about their community’s risks, protocols, and how to keep their community members safe.
This is an example of being proactive to a situation where cooperation among the government, police and its people through the media and programs implemented were able to reduce such a devastating disease that along claiming human life, is also expensive to treat in the long run causing a economic impact.
The national system responsible for the health and welfare of United States citizens is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “HHS is charged with regulating health care and overseeing the health status of Americans” (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008, p. 56). A newer division, Office of Public Health Preparedness was added after September 11, 2011 to assist with preparing for bioterrorism at the state and national level (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008). The U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) has eight agencies and is
I would like to propose that the World Health Organization takes a more active role in this area and create a more sophisticated quick response branch that embeds personnel in an effective manner. This will take much logistical planning and preparedness, perhaps the successes could be used analogously in this country to strengthen FEMA’s responses.
I feel that strong communication not only within your own county but from county to state has a lot to do with how things are gone about and dealt with. You have to have strong communication one with such a large issue that might be at hand and plus look at the amount of lives that you are taking care of. Everyone that is or gets involved throughout such a large issue such as anthrax needs to be in on “the know” about every little single detail that there is. Strong communication is what gets everyone through it and in a manner that is not hectic or chaotic. Granted there are those people that are going to be beyond beside their self because of what is happening but there should also be those people out there helping them calm down and letting them know that everything is going to be ok. It is sad to say but big events such as 9/11 bring people together and closer and makes us realize that it isn’t just about us there are other people involved and we need to be
People can recover from Legionnaires’, but 5% - 30% die. The most likely people to die by the disease are the elderlies and people with underlying medical problems. The disease is not spread by person to person, but through the air.
Today our community is presented with a problem that will require communication between several internal and external avenues to help resolve the water contamination in the Eugene-Springfield area. I am Shellie Cobbs, Director of the Regional Emergency Management Office, and I will be addressing the media on the procedures to be used in running the crisis communication efforts in response to the contaminated water. A water contamination event poses a unique opportunity to work with diverse populations to effectively convey important health messages ("Contamination," 2008, p. 1).
One of the major services they provide is the prevention of epidemic and spread of diseases in Iowa. To do this, IDHP uses their qualified physicians to monitor, detect and investigate infectious diseases and determine the prevention and control measures that need to be applied. To make sure that they can be able to contain an event of a public health disaster effectively, IDHP has programs like i-SERV in place which consists of not only employees of the department but also willing volunteers from the state. According to Bureau of Emergency and Trauma Services (BETS) also a program under IDHP, there were 1,970 registered volunteers in i-SERV in early July 2015 (Darling et al, 23). Another service that IDHP offers is protecting the general public of Iowa against environmental hazards. The department does its best to regulate the environmental health risks such as tobacco. To do this IDHP concentrates mostly on the Iowan’s population with annual income below twenty thousand dollars. The strategy is based on the findings that high cases of smoking are reported by Iowan’s with income below twenty thousand dollars as compared to those earning above seventy-five thousand dollars(Xu, et al, 330). Among other services offered by IDHP are the promotion of health behaviors, prevention of injuries and the strengthening of the public health
After failing to identify any known disease the CDC Special Pathogens Branch, state health departments of New Mexico, Colorado and Utah were notified. The Indian Health Service, the Navajo Nation
Modern society is dealing with a health crisis that has been on the rise for years. Ongoing
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.
Federal and States public health involvement has evolved over the years, because the relationship between the different levels of government are changing and due to the fact that we are now aware of the of threats to local communities well- being health, safety and our local communities expectations for governmental response to situations and as well
This paper defines and explains the six core functions of epidemiology: Public health surveillance, field investigation, analytic studies, evaluations, linkages, and policy development. The core functions of epidemiology lay down a foundation on which epidemiologists can begin to work from. This paper will look at the benefits of incorporating all six of these functions into a working plan when health officials, medical personnel, first responders, etc., encounter a disease or illness that needs to be identified, treated and contained.
M. pneumoniae is generally referred to as primary atypical or walking pneumonia because the symptoms are not as sever as pneumonia. The symptoms include a dry hacking cough, fever, and headache. The symptoms will last for about 2 to 3 weeks. M. pneumoniae affects people worldwide. Typically only 33 % of people who have M. pneumoniae will get atypical pneumonia. The majority, 77 %, will come down with an upper tract infection (tracheaobronchitis). (Pulmonary Disorders pg 609) M. pneumoniae is transmitted through aerosol droplets. The bacterium is capable of infecting anyone at any time but it has a pattern of coming in the fall and winter and causing an outbreak every 4 to 8 years, although more tight communities occur more frequently. The pathogen rarely occurs on children less than 4 years of age. Since the bacterium lacks a cell wall, B-lactums are futile against them. The body’s immune system is responsible for killing the pathogen. There were 2 million cases in the US with 100,000 requiring hospitalization. The mortality rate is very low with only occasional fatalities among the elderly and sickle cell anemia persons. ( ).