Outbreak At Watersedge : A Parasitic Disease Essay

3. The edge of the rash is extremely unmistakable and may be textured or have knocks that look like rankles.

A common source outbreak is an outbreak that affects a number of people being exposed to a common pathogen agent or toxin. Back in early 1993 more than 400,000 people were affected with waterborne cryptosporidium infection in the greater Milwaukee area. This massive outbreak was transmitted through the public water supply, caused abdominal cramping, nausea, vomiting, and fever which resulted in watery diarrhoea.

Naegleria fowleri infection is a deadly disease caused by a form of protist typically found dwelling within warm bodies of fresh water, such as lakes, rivers, streams and unchlorinated swimming pools. It can also be found within soil or in warm fresh water deposits outside of factories. Naegleria fowleria typically reside within fish or other water-dwelling organisms, but they have been known to infiltrate the human body via the nasal cavity.

The Medieval Era was a time of knights and castles, royals and peasants, plague and famine, war and death. In the 1300’s a devastating plague swept across of most of Europe and Asia. It killed millions of people. Upon reaching Britain it killed over one-third the population. The Black Death, in only a few years, had left a permanent mark on Britain, its economy, the feudalism system and its culture through the cause of the major population decline in the 14th century.

Most parasitic diseases can not be contracted in the United States but when traveling, you can catch it. Luckily, you can take some precautions to avoid contracting them. There are some diseases contracted by consuming contaminated water and food. Some of the preventative measures that should be taken to avoid this is keeping away from drinking the water, swimming only in designated swimming areas, not swimming in freshwater and avoiding swallowing water when swimming, steer clear from cooked food from street vendors, raw vegetables, and unpasteurized dairy foods such as milk or cheese. You should also get specific vaccinations before entering different countries like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Influenza, Measles, Polio, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis

wells with ergot, a fungus that grows on rye wheat, causing the enemies to hallucinate after ingesting the

Outbreak at Watersedge game was a fun experience that allowed me to assimilate the epidemiological process, which I used in order to find the infectious agent that caused the outbreak and to identify the disease, caused by that agent. The process I went through in order to start my investigation started at the Watersedge Department of Health, where I visited as a new intern.

When traveling to and from exotic locations, vacationers are warned about drinking untreated water, swimming in freshwater lakes and streams, and against eating certain foods. The risks for contracting a parasitic disease while abroad are pretty well defined and as a traveler you are made aware. Less known are the risks here at home. It is a fact however that parasitic diseases in the US are on the rise. According to Dr. Oz “approximately 1 in 3 Americans is infected with an intestinal parasite at any given time.” Specific statistic are not available because most Americans who are infected may be unaware. Often the symptoms of neglected parasitic infections are troublesome, however, vague. Therefore treatment is not immediately sought and even

In response to these comments, it was then that the FDA added three additional pathogens to the list of qualifying pathogens: Coccidiodes species, Cryptococcus species, and Helicobacter pylori. Coccidiosis species, Cryptococcus species, and Helicobacter pylori. Coccidiosis is a disease caused by fungi from the genes of Cryptococcus that affect living organisms such as humans and animals. Living organisms usually contract this by inhaling the fungi, thus resulting in lung infection that can travel to the brain causing further harm for the organism. Two individuals were first identified with the fungus between 1894 and 1895. The Cryptococci’s can be found worldwide. The main way that disease is spread is also through inhalation with the particular fungus that happens to be associated with several species of bird, particularly old pigeon waste and bat guano.

Military worms can also be used for reconnaissance. In, 2012, shortly after Stuxnet, the Russians discovered a virus, later named Flame, which had been extracting and dumping all data from Russian computers. The article, “Flame: Massive cyber-attack discovered, researchers say” by Dave Lee explains, “Once a system is infected, Flame begins a complex set of operations, including sniffing the network traffic, taking screenshots, recording audio conversations, intercepting the keyboard, and so on” (Lee). This usage of computer worms demonstrates the versatility of cyberwarfare. Not only can computer worms target specific factories and agencies, they can also be used to collect data secretly from other countries. In this passage, the author says Flame has been “ taking screenshots, recording audio conversations, [and] intercepting the keyboard.” Imagine if the U.S. was attacked by Flame. The virus could have been recording all search history, what individuals look like, and what they have said around their computer for months, while it sends all of this information to another country. This gives some insight into how powerful cyber weapons can be. The have the power to stalk anyone, almost anywhere, while remaining almost completely undetected. Later in the document, David Lee writes, “Whereas Stuxnet just had one purpose in life, Flame is a toolkit, so they can go after just about everything they can get their hands on. Once the initial Flame malware has infected a machine,

Toxocariasis is a disease caused by a parasitic roundworm found in the intestine of animals more specifically, cats(T.cati) and dog(Toxocara Canis) (CDC). Toxocara species are transmitted from animals to humans through faecal contact of cat or dog, so it is a zoonotic disease. Young children and owners who have pets (cats and dogs) have a higher chance of getting infected. In many cases, Toxocara infections are asymptomatic; however, some people may get very ill from the infection. The most severe cases are rare but are more likely to occur in young children who eat or play with dirt contaminated by cat or dog faeces (CDC).

The apicomplexan Cyclospora cayetanensis is an obligate intracellular protozoan that infects human and causing diarrhea worldwide (Lainson 2005; Ortega and Sanchez, 2010) leading to a significant morbidity and mortality in both immunocompromised and immunocompetent hosts (Legua and Seas 2013). Cyclsosporiosis patients may be gastrointestinal symptomatic or asymptomatic and/ or having extraintestinal constitutional symptoms such as weight loss, fever, chills, muscle aches, joint aches, generalized body aches, headache, or fatigue (Mansfield and Gajadhar 2004). Fecally contaminated water, food or soil with sporulated oocysts of C. cayetanensis are the main sources of infection transmission (Herwaldt, 2000; Crist et al., 2004). The host specificity

Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia or snail fever, is a disease that is caused by the parasite Schistoma. Exposure to Schistoma and subsequent infection occur when individuals are performing routine agricultural, domestic, and/or recreational activities that expose them to contaminated water. Schistoma can penetrate the skin during contact with the water. Once in the body, the parasite develops and multiplies. In order to maintain its lifecycle, some Schistoma are passed through the urine into the environment, while others stay in the body and reside in body tissues, causing internal damage to tissue and organs. (See Figure 1).

manner, Santín and Trout (2007) shown that the prevalence of cryptosporidiosis in older animals is several times lower as compared to calves. The host age is an very important factor that influences the pathogenicity of Cryptosporidium, with calves being more susceptible to infection than adults

     Transmission of the parasite can occur in several different ways. Direct transmission can occur by handling infected animal or human feces. One quarter of reported direct transmission infections occurred by direct contact with feces, while the rest were reported to have happened by person to person contact (Donnelly & Stentiford, 1997).