On pages 118 - 123, Dr. Moalen talks about the virulence of bacteria; in other words, the degree to which a disease is harmful. He draws the distinctions between relatively harmless sicknesses such as the common cold (which requires close proximity to spread) and more damaging ones, such as malaria (which incapacitates its victims so the disease can be spread my mosquitoes). Where Dr. Moalen fails to elaborate on are the most volatile and deadly of diseases, such as various hemorrhagic fevers caused by viruses (Ebola Virus, Marburg Virus, Lassa Fever). Other diseases that would fit such a high virulence would be Category A priority pathogens of the NIAID and those that belong on the Global Alert and Response of the World Health Organization.
Choose such a highly virulent disease. Using the idea that "biological systems interact [...] and possess complex properties" (Big Idea 4), evaluate the ways that health workers should implement aseptic techniques that would limit the spread of your chosen highly virulent disease (see links above) when faced with its outbreak. In addition, address the problems of implementing such techniques in the region in which your chosen disease is found. Furthermore, expound on the disease's fatality rates, places that have faced outbreaks of the disease, its symptoms, and possible treatments. Please keep in mind to review the comments to this blog - no two people should choose the same disease.
Other helpful sites would the the Mayo Clinic and the NIH.
(Gabriel Antoniak - gantoni4@students.d125.org)
A bacteria called Yersinia pestis causes the infectious disease called plague. There are three different forms of plague (of which one is most likely familiar to all who have studied European history): bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic plague.
ReplyDeleteBecause currently there is no commercial vaccine for plague in the U.S. and plague is mainly transmitted by flea and rodent bites, so insecticides and repellants should be used and contact with these animals should be avoided. To protect from rodents and fleas, proper waste storage should be implemented as well as rat-proof buildings.
As many cases of plague occur in developing countries, there is the predicament of actually being able to implement protection techniques in the rural areas and small towns that are affected by plague. Often, developing countries do not have access to the same quality of sanitation conditions we have in the U.S. Waste programs and rat-proof buildings can be something extremely difficult to fund and to create a smooth process that will last. Tied with these specific problems, underlying problems of corruption as well as opportunities must be dealt with before largely successful medicine programs may work.
Plague is not as common now as it had been before, due to better living conditions, medicine, and sanitation. Overall mortality rate in the U.S. from 1990-2010 is 11% from the 66% it had been before the age of antibiotics. Mortality rates in developing countries are more difficult to measure as cases are often not diagnosed correctly or if they are, they are not reported.
Outbreaks of plague have occurred in Africa, Asia, and South America as well as rural areas of the southwestern United States. Most human cases since the 1990s have occurred in Africa and almost all cases have been reported from areas like small villages and agricultural areas rather than large cities.
Plague victims develop flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache, chills, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and extreme exhaustion. Those infected by bubonic plague have swollen and tender lymph nodes called buboes (hence bubonic plague) around the area they are bitten. Symptoms of pneumonic plague include a cough, bloody mucus, and difficulty breathing.
To treat bubonic plague, widely-used antibiotics like streptomycin or gentamicin can be prescribed. If untreated, bubonic plague can become septicemic plague, which is fatal in around 50-60% of patients. If bubonic plague moves to the lungs, it becomes pneumonic plague, which is almost always fatal.
Resources:
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/plague/Pages/default.aspx
http://healthvermont.gov/prevent/Plague.aspx#ten
http://www.cdc.gov/plague/faq/#cases
http://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/
(Posted by Tina Tian, ttian4@students.d125.org)