Polio Close to Being Eradicated

The article “India brings hope to stalled fight against polio” can be found at: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/20/ap/health/main20034144.shtml.
This article is about the World Health Assembly trying to eradicate the polio virus, similar to the way small pox was eradicated. Most people who get polio never show any symptoms at all. They are completely healthy and only pass the virus on through there stools. Some people show symptoms similar to the flu, so they think nothing of it; they too pass the virus on in there stools. For the people who do show symptoms, they are shown in the form of crippled limbs. People who get polio never regain ability to use the limb fully again. For obvious reasons, Polio thrives in third world countries and places that have poor sanitation and bad plumbing.
When the World Health finally eradicated the tricky disease called small pox, they turned their attention to Polio. The reasons the World Health think they can eradicate the polio virus is because it is spread from person to person. They would not be capable of doing so if the disease spread from an animal or from being in the air. The World Health Assembly started a global effort in 1988 to eradicate the virus by 2000. It was wiped out across the Americas by 1991; the Western Pacific by 1998; and Europe by 1999. But the virus still remains today in very small cases in four countries, each present their own challenge. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, disorder, conflict and violence made it difficult to get the vaccine to all the children. In Nigeria, Muslim leaders wouldn’t take the vaccine in a plot to sterilize their kids. And in India, malnutrition and constant diarrhea made children too weak to process the vaccine properly.
When a house is given the vaccine, the World Health volunteer will color every person’s left pinky nails with a permanent purple marker to keep track of who has received the vaccine. Then when he or she leaves they will paint the date and a "P'' on the house, showing that all the children who live there are protected. If the house is marked with an "X" it represents that some have been missed. Another World Health volunteer follows to ensure no houses have been wrongly marked.
Let’s hope that with persistence and help from Bill Gates and many other generous and caring people that soon the polio virus like small pox will completely be eradicated around the world.

Measles in Boston

The article titled Health officlas work to contain measles in Boston talks about the recent measles outbreak in Boston.

There is one diagnosed case of measles, a woman in her 20s who works at the French consulate. The woman was diagnosed with measles on Thursday. Boston Public Health Officials are now trying to keep the disease from spreading to others. Public Health Officials are encouraging people who have not been vaccinated before, to get their shots. Officials are vaccinating people who were in contact with the woman at the consulate and local Bay State College students who were around the consulate. So far, they have given out 80 vaccinations.

The French consulate has 17 people working in their office and they were all sent home and placed in quarantine. Unless they have proof of a vaccination, they are not allowed back to work for 8 days. The 8 day wait is because that is how long you are contagious for with this disease. Doctor Anita Barry of the Department of Public Health says "It's very easily spread. Measles is a very contagious virus that travels through the air. You don't need much of an exposure to come down with it." The symptoms of measles are fever, runny nose, red eyes, and then a rash appears 4 days later.

Measles has been in Boston before. In 1956 there was an outbreak in the City. All students had to be immunized before they were allowed back into school.

Knowing that this disease has been in Boston before, makes it a little less scary to some people because the majority of people are already vaccinated. If you have not been vaccinated before, it could be a little scary knowing how contagious this disease is. Also knowing that Public Health Officials are already on the move giving out vaccinations, is comforting as well. The woman who came down with this disease had been overseas and flown here to work. Many of us this week on vacation flew in and out of Logan Airport. I came home on Friday, so it is a little scary knowing that I could have been exposed to this disease.

Protect Yourself from Influenza this Winter!

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/preventing.htm


CDC Says 'Take 3' Actions to Fight the Flu is an article written by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on September 29th, 2010. The article gives advice on how to protect oneself from contracting Influenza this winter.

The article begins by stating the importance of protecting oneself from the flu this winter, and describes briefly the intensity of the flu last year. Three different preventative actions are discussed and advised: one should receive the flu vaccination, take everyday sanitation seriously to prevent the spread of germs, and take flu anti-viral drugs if advised to do so by a doctor. The article goes into detail about each of these suggestions and explains why they are important to not only oneself but society and preventing the spread of disease.

Vaccination is suggested as the most important step toward preventing the flu, and conditions under which the vaccination should be given are described. (Children under six years of age are too young, but older children, pregnant women, etc are very susceptible to the flu and should definitely be vaccinated.)

The article opens with, "In 2009–2010, a new and very different flu virus (called 2009 H1N1) spread worldwide causing the first flu pandemic in more than 40 years. Flu is unpredictable, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expects the 2009 H1N1 virus to spread this upcoming season along with other seasonal flu viruses." This goes to show that regardless of what happened last year or what will happen in the future, the flu is unpredictable and can be very dangerous and fatal. It is therefore necessary to take as many precautionary actions as possible to prevent the spread of influenza. 


This article really interested me because it's really important that public health organizations such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention take action and write articles to inform people of what to do to prevent the spread of influenza. After last year's outbreak of H1N1 flu, many people were probably very worried that this year something similar would occur. I think that even this short article alone really provides a solid list of tips for preventing the contraction and spread of the flu. 


As we learned in class, vaccinations are the most effective way to prevent the contraction of an infectious disease, so when one is available it's crucial that people who are eligible to receive the vaccination do indeed receive it. The preventative measures listed in this article are very easy and highlighted nicely as a guide to a healthy winter. 

Memories of Foot and Mouth Epidemic Still Plague Farmers

The title of this article is "Remembering Foot and Mouth in Cornwall 10 Years On". The article is published on BBC's website and the author is not specified. It was published on February 15, 2011 and can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/cornwall/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_9393000/9393169.stm

The article talks about how an outbreak of foot and mouth disease among livestock ten years caused farmers to have to burn, or shoot, their animals. People were afraid on infection from their animals, so they were forced to kill them. One such person states "I was devastated. I'd reared the lot and thought I'd worked for nothing all those years, it was like losing one of the family." All of the evidence of years of work had to be destroyed because of this disease. Now, ten years later, farmers worry about the disease returning. If it did, it would devestate them, as cuts in the government agency responsible for preventing such incidents's budget are in place. The government denies that this would be a problem, however, saying that there are many more measures taken to prevent this from happening.

I think that it wouls be horrible to have to kill all those animals because of the disease. Not only had you worked hard bringing them up, but they didn't do anything wrong. We learned in class that living in close quarters with animals can expose humans to disease. This is an example of measures taken to prevent that. It is unfortunate that the measures had to be so drastic and tragic.

The truth behind H1N1

The horrible outbreak of H1N1 in 2009 led to many devastating outcomes for families.  According to the article by Nicholas Bakalar on February 8, 2011, found at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/health/research/08flu.html?scp=3&sq=epidemic&st=cse , Swine Flu was not caused by being in the close vicinity of an infected person, but rather through the social networks of children.  Research at a school in Pennsylvania showed that specific seating arrangements were not significant to the spread of this epidemic.  Girls would have been more likely to spread it to other girls during playtime interaction, while boys would have been more likely to spread it to boys.  A larger percentage of people from age six to ten were infected than any other age group.  It was found that adults had a slim chance of contracting the Swine Flu from their own children, making it ineffective to shut down schools during this time.  

Initially, I was not surprised at the data represented after reading this article.  Transmission among classmates was found to be greater than the transmission between kids of different grades.  This makes more sense because kids in elementary school more often play with kids their own age, which then would lead to transmitting the disease.  Kids generally enjoy having fun with others of the same gender at such a young age as well.  However, in our Epidemic Diseases class, we have learned that contagious diseases can be transmitted from other infected people.  It can be understandable why some people would have been fearful of being in close proximity to someone infected with the disease, even though this was not the common manner of transmitting H1N1.  This article got my attention because it gave valuable information on how to make the public more aware of the spread of disease.

Cholera in Boston?

The Boston Globe recently wrote an article on a total of six possible cases of Cholera in Boston. The article is called “2d cholera case confirmed, 4 others in Bay State suspected of having disease” by Stephen Smith. The article can be found here. It seems unlikely that a city like Boston would have any patients with Cholera at all, yet in the past week there have been two confirmed cases and four others being tested for having Cholera. All the patients had recently traveled to the Dominican Republic for a lavish wedding at a five star hotel. But the guest took home an unexpected reminder of the wedding, the germs causing Cholera.

Even though the Dominican Republic is thousands of miles away from Boston, the disease has found its way into Massachusetts because of International travel. Cholera is often associated with developing countries because of the lack of sanitation that can spread Cholera. Cholera is spread through contaminated water, which is often found in developing countries like the Dominican Republic. Somehow contaminated water was used to prepare food for the guests at the wedding, and therefore Cholera was unknowingly spread. The exact source of the contamination is unknown but it is suspected that it was brought in from the outside catering company hired by the couple. Guest traveled from all over the world to attend this wedding and possibly all took home with them Cholera and are possibly spreading it to others. But the article states from Dr. Larry Madoff that “all are recovering, and there is no evidence the disease is spreading in Massachusetts”.

It seems unlikely that a disease such as Cholera could be found in such a developed country such as the United States. But International travel has put those who enjoy traveling to other countries at risk for diseases they most likely would never contract back in the United States. The author, Stephen Smith said “the emergence of cholera in Boston, 1,700 miles from the origin of an outbreak moving across the island of Hispaniola, illustrates the swift, relentless migration of infectious diseases in an era of widespread jet traffic”. These tourists in Dominican Republic were staying at a five star hotel and attending a lavish wedding were the thought of diseases like Cholera, never crossed their minds. But as seen here by these cases of Cholera, diseases can be found in fancy hotels. Another source, Dr. Jordan Tappero states “we’re not at all surprised that this would happen, given all the travel.’’.

It doesn’t really surprise me that these wedding guests contracted Cholera because they probably were not paying much attention to where their food and drink were coming from at such a fancy wedding. I think that this shows how International travelers who are in developing nations need to be more self-reliant and really be aware of everything they eat and drink. Visitors cannot always rely on others to make sure the water and food are safe. Do you agree, or do you think travelers should expect the hotels and caters to take care of proper sanitation? Thankfully all of people infected with Cholera recognized that they needed medical care and went to the hospital where they were successfully treated with hydration and antibiotics. These people do not need to worry about the risks often associated with Cholera because they live in America, yet those who live in the Dominican Republic may not be so lucky.

Can Monarch Butterflies Save Our Lives?

This article was found in the US News and World Report Newspaper. The author is unknown, however, it was written in Athens Georgia and explains how migrating animals, such as Monarch Butterflies, can potential prevent the spread of infectious disease. The article can be found here, http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2011/01/21/long-distance-migration-may-help-reduce-infectious-disease-risks-for-many-animal-species.

The author goes on to say how migrating animals may protect other animals, including humans, from contracting infectious disease. The author explains how animals who have diseases would die off during migration and there would be more of a chance of little or no disease being brought to the new land where the animal is migrating to. Also, when the hosts of the disease have migrated, the remaining parasites will die off and when the host returns back home, the parasite numbers will be significantly lower.

An example of this in the article is described by this quote, "Long migratory journeys can also weed infected animals from the population: imagine running a marathon with the flu. This not only prevents those individuals from spreading disease to others, it also helps to eliminate some of the most virulent strains of pathogens."

There are some Monarch Butterflies that migrate from Canada to Mexico, while there are others that don't migrate at all. In a study done on Monarch Butterflies it was shown that there was less infected butterflies in the group that did migrate versus the one that didn't.

I think that this was a very interesting article. I had always thought that migrating animals would probably spread a disease where ever they went, I never thought about how the parasite wouldn't be able to survive. Many of these species habitats are disappearing and if they don't have a place to live than they can no longer migrate and we may end up contracting more diseases than we thought we ever would.

Cholera: Without Borders

In an article provided by All Headline News on the 8th Tom Ramstack reports the condition of three patients in New York that were treated for Cholera. The people who were unfortunate enough to contract Cholera have been treated and have recovered. The origin is most definitely from Haiti. The three from New York had recently attended a wedding in the Dominican Republic which borders Haiti. The travelers must have consumed contaminated food or water to come down with the illness. While these people have been treated it is worrying that Cholera is moving out of Haitian borders with travelers. Dr. Sharon Balter, a medical epidemiologist for the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene suspects that more cases will occur with travel to and from the country. The article can be read at: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/briefs/articles/9003370?Cholera%20in%20New%20York%20traced%20to%20Haitian%20epidemic#ixzz1DQzM9tpb
Similar to the Black Death and Small Pox, Cholera was in this case spread by travel. While Cholera is treatable in a country like the US other countries like the Dominican Republic and Cuba that are more likely to receive Cholera infected travelers may eventually not have enough resources to treat so many people. Since Cholera spreads like wild fire in areas with little sanitation and can kill without treatment. The prospect of Cholera spreading beyond Haitian borders is worrying because it really means that little is being done to combat Cholera in Haiti. If extensive work was being done to prevent the spread of and treat Cholera it would be a more contained incident. Since the travelers from New York did not even visit Haiti, only the Dominican Republic it is worrying that Cholera has already spread into another country. While efforts should be spent on treating those infected with Cholera at this time more should be spent on preventing it. Better to use preventative medicine than wait until more people get sick.

Tsunami of Infectious Diseases

Blount County, TN has been hit with a soaring amount of infectious diseases. Schools have been depleated and cancelling classes because of all the students missing due to illness. Dr. Andrew Smith said that in the past couple of weeks there have been three to four times as many people that need to be seen the same day they call in for acute illnesses that must be treated. The diseases that people have been calling in about have ranged from strep throat to the flu to very high fevers with flu-like symptoms. All of these diseases are highly infectious and are being passed around from person to person. The article (http://www.thedailytimes.com/Blount_Life/story/Tidal_wave_of_infectious_disease_washes_over_Blount_id_007559) goes over many myths and realitys of viruses and what to do if one enters your body.

This article stood out to me because all of these infections are so contagious that they could spread all the way to Massachusetts if not handled quickly. It also stood out to me because some of the myths talk about the differences between bacteria and viruses and also how to handle them. It also makes you realize how easy it can be to catch a virus from someone near you. It shows that prevention is the best way to avoid getting sick with a disease. These can be very hard to avoid but things like washing your hands constantly and keeping your immune system up may help.