Concept
Control of acute infectious disease is one of the oldest public health practices. It just as important today even as new infectious diseases such as SARS, Monkeypox, and Avian Influenza emerge to take the place of those diseases brought under control. The Infectious disease models for this session are HIV, TB and Communicable diseases.
Key Words
AIDS, HIV, False & True Positives, High Risk groups, High Risk behaviors, quarantine, incidence, prevalence, chronic, acute, incubation period, antibody, disease, vaccine, immunity, Pasteur, eradication, cost-benefit, law & regulations, high risk populations, sexually transmissible disease. SARS. Substance AbuseObjectives
After reviewing these three groups of infectious diseases the student should be able to describe
- policymaking approaches used to control infectious disease outbreaks in a community.
- To state when and how quarantine may be useful in protecting the community from particular individuals with these diseases, based on the use of modern epidemiologic principles.
- How the community models for control of HIV, STDs, TB, and Immunizations have changed since W.W.II,
- Why these diseases still remain problems.
- How certain substance abuses have obstructed the public health professionals from making significant reductions in new HIV infections, and what role HIV plays in TB infections ,
Vaccine Preventable Childhood Diseases
Despite many resources devoted to full immunization of children by 2 years of age, the U.S. still lags behind many developed and under-developed countries. You should be able to discuss why strategies that work in almost every other country fail in the US. Are the issues cultural, behavioral, failure of communication, or political?
HIV as a model:
for a recently emerged (within the last 20 years) disease of public health significance. It also provides a model to study issues of policy, politics and practice, particualrly how such models can deter acquisition of Sexually Transmitted Infecrtions (STIs).
TB was under control 15 years ago
Students should be able to describe why, despite availability of antibiotics, this disease has become less controllable and more widespread in the U.S. and the world, particularly Africa and Asia.
Substance Abuse as an impediment to reducing new HIV/TB infections.
Despite the knowledge developed over the last 25 years since HIV infections were discovered in the U.S., and the ability to control HIV infection, as a chronic disease, in the same way TB has been controlled for the last 50 years, the abuse of injectable drugs such as cocaine and heroin have contributed to many new infections of both HIV and TB. There is little doubt that much reduction of new infections can occur in the absence of policies/programs that deter abuse of injectable drugs, but together prevention will be improved..
References
(Scan) Web pages of CDC & IOM
Oaukn A Offitt MD: The Cutter Incident. Yale University press. 2005
Arthur Allen. Vaccine, Morton & Company. 2007
Rx for Survival - Rise of the Superbugs And How Safe are We? PBS series - On-Line and 3CD set. 2006
Reading
Introduction to Public Health: Schneider Chapters 9 & 10
Essays - number 7
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