The Diseases Of The World

Throughout history, vaccinations have been used to help the prevention of infectious diseases; some of which can produce serious illnesses, crippling disabilities, and ultimately be the cause of death. There is evidence of ancient culture’s attempting to treat transmittable diseases with various forms of inoculations. Developments in the research of vaccinations increased during the mid-twentieth century because of the established of more advanced laboratories, improved equipment, and new innovations. The progression of medicine during history has helped further the development of research into vaccinations. Several cultural, ethical, and religious issues have resulted from the development and use of vaccinations in our society. The topic of vaccinations has caused a strong debate amongst our culture about the safety and danger of treating infectious diseases with such methods.

Vaccinations have been actively used for over 200 years now and have been effective for over 200 years as well. Western medicine’s introduction to the practice is said to have occurred within the eighteenth century, when a traveling British aristocrat, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, reported her observations of Turkish children being injected with pus from smallpox victims. Although this practice seemed quite harsh, most of these children would contract only a mild version of the illness. In return, these recipients would retain a lifelong immunity to this terrible disease (World of Microbiology & Immunology). Similarly, in the United States, a Puritan minister by the name of Cotton Mather learned about inoculation from his African slave, Onesimus. Onesimus claimed that he was inoculated with smallpox pus and never caught the tragic disease (Williams). This type of medicinal treatment was initially rejected by most Western practitioners. They felt it was a dangerous and barbarous practice, but vaccination gained a tremendous amount of support at the turn of the nineteenth century when English physician Edward Jenner created a new smallpox vaccine derived from the relatively mild cowpox virus (Riedel). There’s no doubt that history has shown the positive outcomes of immunization and continued to show them as technology and medicine progressed.

Audience hook: In 2014, the U.S experienced a record number of cases of measles, mostly from the Philippines. Most were unvaccinated and most were from international travel.

Measles was discovered in the 19th century by a Persian Doctor, but was not recognized until 1957 as an infectious agent in human blood by a Scottish physician. In 1912 measles became a notifiable disease and in the first decade that records were kept there was on average 6,000 deaths per year reported from the disease. (Center For Disease Control). There is no definite origination of measles but scientists believe that it dates back to the Roman Empire about the 11th and 12th century (NCBI, 2010). The first outbreak known in America was in 1657 in Boston,

Facts and figures available to study the epidemiological data for the outbreak of measles include gathering suspected and confirmed cases of this disease from the World Health Organization. This is done by gathering serum samples from all suspected cases to determine if a measles specific immunoglobulin antibody is detected. This particular disease lives in the nose and throat of the infected individual and is considered contagious for a period of four days before the rash appears and for a further four days after the sighting of the rash.

In early April 2013 a measles outbreak was discovered in North Carolina. By mid-May the outbreak had been identified in Stokes and Orange Counties via 23 active cases. Every case was linked back to a family that had spent 3 months in India and had not been vaccinated. By the 16th of April the state laboratory of Public Health was able to confirm the diagnosis, with the last known case being confirmed on May 7th. The investigation of this outbreak revealed 4 patients with a confirmed diagnosis that had received one of vaccination of the two part series. The other 19 cases had not ever been vaccinated.

Measles was at one time in the not too distant past, a killer of those that became infected. Measles has been around for centuries. The first published, written account of the disease was in the ninth century by a Persian doctor. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website on measles, it was not until 1757 that a Scottish physician, named Francis Home, proved that something infectious in the blood was causing the disease. By the early 1900’s, the United States began requiring every healthcare provider and laboratory to report all identified cases, with approximately 6,000 deaths being

Vaccines change over time as science makes advancements and diseases processes evolve and emerge. Around 400 BC, Hippocrates recognized the now preventable diseases, such as diphtheria and mumps (Immunization Act Coalition, 2015). The first effort to immunize dates back to the 1100’s when children were inoculated with scabs from individuals who recently had small pox, with a technique coined as variolation. Then in 1796, Edward Jenner successfully created the first small pox vaccine (Immunization Act Coalition, 2015).

The new trend of parents not having their children vaccinated for measles is causing harm to the child and contributing to future outbreaks of the disease.

One of the initial steps in finding a cure for measles was naming and withdraws of the germ that caused the disease. You know when you have the flu, chickenpox and pneumonia; those cause bacteria and virus. However, in 1920 people were sick and had the flu they didn’t know it was the influenza virus so they called it the Spanish flu. In 1920 Herbert McLean Evans discovered Vitamin E, Elmer V. McCollum discovered vitamin D, vitamins A, B, C, K, and various subtypes of each were also discovered during the 1920s. During 1920, measles was a common childhood illness.

Wolfson stated in his interview “Measles is not a big deal.” Measles outbreak in the United States has increased tremendously since parents refuse to have their children vaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published a report, “Measles Cases and Outbreaks,” that shows how the measles cases have been increase nationwide.

Some anti-vaxxers claim that they don’t need to vaccinate their children because “measles isn’t really that bad” (Ross, np). Measles is a respiratory disease within the lungs and breathing tubes that results in fever and rash, and it is very contagious (CDC, np). Measles causes cough, runny nose, rash, diarrhea, and ear infection (CDC, np).

Let 's say your child is sick and you do not understand why. The symptoms your child is showing are similar to that of the flu. You took your child to the hospital to find out that your child has the measles, a disease that is usually avoided with a vaccination. At the time you did not believe that your child needed to be vaccinated, but now that your child has contracted something that was preventable you regret your decision. The Measles vaccination has been in America since 1965 stated by the American Journal of Public Health. (Hendriks, Blume, 2013) Measles start off with flu like symptoms and it usually takes a few days for the physical part of the measles to appear. It does however disappear within two or three weeks after all the symptoms appear, but the possibility of having pneumonia or brain inflammation is high.

I have never had measles as a kid but I heard of someone who did. He developed a total body skin rash with flu like symptoms. It started with reddish rash on the forehead that spreads to the rest of face then down the neck and torso to the arms and legs. Luckily he survived. Anecdote is defined as an account regarded as unreliable or hearsay. Anecdotes play an important part into perceived risk. When people hear that it came from an unreliable source they would choose not to believe it and won’t even want any part of it. Therefore people would something they can rely on and

Measles, is a highly contagious viral illness that is characterized by a prodrome of fever, malaise, cough, coryza, and conjunctivitis and then is followed by a maculopapular rash (Kutty et al., 2014). Most persons contracting the virus recover completely, but there are some possible severe complications and these include pneumonia, encephalitis and death (Kutty et al., 2014). Kutty et al. (2014) reported deaths from the measles as approximately two to three deaths for every 1,000 reported cases.