Monthly Archives: April 2018

Zoonotic diseases are ones that spread from animals to humans through the use of a “vector” (i.e. mosquitos, fleas, etc.).  Diseases of this nature have been around for centuries but were only discovered within the last 100 years when researchers realized that we could be infected by diseases that were known to effect only animal species.  The most prominent of these diseases are HIV, Zika, Malaria and Ebola.

The biggest concern with many of these diseases, particularly Zika and Malaria are the effects on unborn children in countries where healthcare is not as advanced as the United States.  The diseases can cause low birth weight and brain disorders of the babies that contract the disease through their mothers.

Malaria is found predominantly in regions that are humid, swampy, and hot such as along the equator and in Africa/South America. A mosquito that is infected with the disease will bite a human and suck their blood, which will cause that person to contract the illness.  The disease progresses and infects their liver cells and when another mosquito comes along and bites that individual, the second mosquito contracts and spreads to another person.  The cycle continues until many individuals have contracted and subsequently spread the disease.

Zika was first discovered in 1947 Africa and was seen again in 2013 French Indonesia.  At first, the disease was not seen to be an issue because it only caused a mild infection and seemed to have no long term effects on the individual.  In more recent years, outbreaks of the disease have infected many individuals and have caused many issues for expecting mothers and their children once they have been born.

Ebola is another disease that has recently made a comeback in the African continent.  It caused severe hemorrhaging, diarrhea, vomiting and ultimately caused such a dehydration in the patient that they would perish extremely quickly and violently.  The disease was vector borne and spread through contact with human bodily fluids.  Although it has been controlled, Ebola, just like all other vector borne diseases present a huge threat to the human population.

HR: The video shown in class as well as powerpoints and class notes.  No unauthorized aid was used.

HIV/AIDS was brought to global attention back in the late 70s and early 80s after several instances of PCP or Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia infected several homosexual men.  The concern over the infection began due to the fact that it was only found in those who had severely compromised immune systems.  There had to be some reason that these individuals had compromised immune systems, but the cause was not yet known.  The only findings at the time were that the infections arose after patients had sexual contact with those that were infected.

The transmission seemed to increase in the homosexual population, which caused a fairly rapid spread in the disease over several years.  As more and more homosexual men became comfortable with their sexuality, an increasing number of them became sick.  As more research was done to understand what was going on, they realized the HIV was going to an epidemic in the U.S and around the world.

In the United States specifically, HIV was seen as a shameful disease to incur because it was mainly contracted in the gay community, which created a stigma.  As the HIV epidemic began to spread, President Reagan and other politicians refused to acknowledge that the disease was a serious problem in the nation and they refused to do anything about it.  They censored educational products to help the public understand how to prevent it and this caused the disease to continually progress. Additionally, the morals of the public at the time did not favor homosexual interactions, so they refused to help anyone who was not in a heterosexual relationship.

After the U.S. realized what a burden this disease was creating for those living with it, activist groups began to do something about it.  They passed out condoms in clubs, bars, and other gathering places in order to help prevent the spread.  Other groups started needle exchange programs, which were against the law, but helped get clean needles to drug addicts so that they did not have to share needles and expose themselves to the potential for the disease.  Often times, the activists would be arrested because of their work to help the drug addicts because having needles was illegal and the government thought they would be promoting the use of illegal drugs on the streets.

Overall, the U.S. culture has made significant progress in the last several decades in order to prevent the spread of the disease and establish a treatment that would slow the progress for those infected.  After the government acknowledged it as a true problem in the country, they began to fund research in order to establish a treatment, which has proved to be significantly helpful for those that have become infected…the only issue was how expensive it would be to obtain the medications.  Nowadays, there are screenings and tests that allow us to tell if somebody has become infected and what we can do for them before it progresses.  Although the disease is not yet eradicated, we are on an upward trend to eventually eliminate the AIDS epidemic altogether.

HR: The Case Study PowerPoint, and the Documentary on HIV.  No unauthorized aid was used.

Cholera is an extremely devastating disease that has a severe impact on all those that it affects.  It causes large quantities of water in the body to be lost because of the diarrhea and vomiting, which can ultimately cause the individual to die within 24 hours.  It is often found in poorer countries such as Africa, South Asia, India, and Bangladesh and has had seven major pandemics across the world.

The Classical biotype of the disease was mainly responsible for the first pandemics, which occurred in the 19^th and 20^th centuries.  Around the mid 20^th century, the El Tor biotype caused the seventh pandemic.  The difficulty in the El Tor biotype is that it is a much more advanced agent that can survive longer periods in aquatic environments.  Often, those with the El Tor don’t exhibit any symptoms and are able to travel, which spreads transmission across the world.

Social Structures cause the disease to spread across poorer nations.  Since the disease is spread by oral-fecal routes, countries with poor sanitation and sewage systems can easily harbor Cholera.  Jon Snow studied the disease and realized that it was being caused by the contaminated water systems.  His research led to the development of sewage and drainage systems inside of homes and public spaces in order to safely take potentially contaminated water away from unharmed drinking water.

Epidemics occurring to this day are typically caused because of the contamination of the only water sources in nations such as Bangladesh, Yemen, and other localities.  This is because people take water out of rivers, creeks, and standing water to use for hydration.  The main issue with this is that those same water sources are used for eliminating human waste.  This is the perfect situation for Cholera to develop and spread from person to person.

Most recently, Haiti has experienced a Cholera outbreak due to the significant natural disasters that has occurred.  With earthquakes and hurricanes, intense flooding has caused their main water sources to become contaminated with fecal matter.  As a result, tons of Haitians became subject to the disease.  To help with the outbreak, many clinics were established to save those effected.  Currently, Haiti is attempting to create outhouses and other means of eliminating waste so that there is no chance at contamination.

HR: The PowerPoint and videos in class.  No unauthorized aid was used.

Tuberculosis is a disease that is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis and mainly effects the lungs.  TB is thought to have appeared anywhere from 20,000-15,000 years ago and has been documented roughly 5,000 years ago in Egypt.  Since the first documented cases of TB, the disease has progressed over many years up until the present day…at this rate, we are unsure if TB will be completely eradicated.

The significant TB epidemic started in 17^th century Europe and traveled to America in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  It spread significantly fast because of the poor sanitary conditions of European and

American cities as well as the close living quarters shared by many tenants.  It spread so quickly and abruptly that it killed nearly 1,000 per every 100,000 people.

As immigration to America began to occur at higher rates, the tenements began to quickly overcrowd and spread TB.  Contributing factors included poor working spaces, which often had poor ventilation and lighting, and mud cellars which required people to live in filthy conditions.  These factors led to many public education works that would tell people to cover their cough, not spit, and stay out of harms way with their actions.

TB also started to evolve into drug-resistant forms, which were much harder to treat.  This is because the strains get used to having the antibiotic in a persons system and as they continually tried to treat the disease, it would become immune to said treatment.  This created a huge problem for people trying to get rid of the horrible disease.  Additionally, if somebody already had a compromised immune system from another disease such as HIV, they were ineffective in trying to treat the TB because it could fully overtake the system.  This has led to very difficult attempts to eradicate the disease because it is ever evolving.

HR: The PowerPoint, class notes, and the video. No unauthorized aid was used.