Epidemiology Paper on Influenza
Write a paper (2,000-2,500 words) in which you apply the concepts of epidemiology and nursing research to a communicable disease. Refer to \”Communicable Disease Chain,\” \”Chain of Infection,\” and the CDC website for assistance when completing this assignment. Epidemiology Paper Requirements 1. Describe the chosen communicable disease, including causes, symptoms, mode of transmission, complications, treatment, and the demographic of interest (mortality, morbidity, incidence, and prevalence). Is this a reportable disease? If so, provide details about reporting time, whom to report to, etc. 2. Describe the social determinants of health and explain how those factors contribute to the development of this disease. 3. Discuss the epidemiologic triangle as it relates to the communicable disease you have selected. Include the host factors, agent factors (presence or absence), and environmental factors. Are there any special considerations or notifications for the community, schools, or general population? 4. Explain the role of the community health nurse (case finding, reporting, data collection, data analysis, and follow-up) and why demographic data are necessary to the health of the community. 5.Identify at least one national agency or organization that addresses the communicable disease chosen and describe how the organizations contribute to resolving or reducing the impact of disease. 6. Discuss a global implication of the disease. How is this addressed in other countries or cultures? Is this disease endemic to a particular area? Provide an example. A minimum of three peer-reviewed or professional references is required. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide. An abstract is not required. Epidemiology Paper on Influenza
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Influenza, also known as Flu, is a major communicable and infectious disease that often involves viral infections. The infectious arises are caused by the influenza virus, which in most cases, attacks the respiratory system. Although it has the capabilities of attacking the entire respiratory system, some of the parts that are at high risk of the viral infection attacks include the throat, lungs, and nose. The said viral communicable disease affects individuals of all ages, from children and youths to adults and the elderly. However, individuals with either weak immune systems or living with certain chronic diseases are at a high risk of contracting flu viral respiratory infections. Influenza exists in two main types, that is Influenza A and Influenza B, arising from human influenza A and B viruses, respectively. The two types will more often cause seasonal epidemics of diseases. For instance, the two types of viruses will result in seasonal epidemics of both types of Influenza almost every winter, especially in the United States. Just like any other disease, Influenza has unique epidemiology, as addressed below. Influenza is a communicable disease with unique epidemiology relating to the Influenzas’ viral infections. Epidemiology Paper on Influenza
Causes and Mode of Transmission
The influenza virus is the only known cause of Influenza. Upon getting on an individuals’ body, the influenza virus will mainly affect the throat, nose, and lungs. The three are some of the main organs of the respiratory system. For this reason, Influenza is said to be an infectious communicable disease and a respiratory one.
Influenza has a unique mode of transmission but, to some extent, similar to other communicable diseases. Influenza virus spreads through air droplets, especially following infected individuals coughing, talking, or sneezing. Whenever influenza infected individual cough, talk, and sneezes, there is sending of viral droplets into the air. The viral air droplets will get to the other uninfected individuals within the immediate environment through their mouths and noses. Still, touching of infected surfaces and objects is another solid influenzas’ virus mode of transmission. For instance, uninfected individuals are at the risk of contracting the influenza virus upon touching Influenza infected surfaced and objects such as computer keyboards and tables. Most imperative, the risk extends upon uninfected individuals having contact with such infected surfaces and then touching their own eyes, nose, and mouth. Thus, viral air droplets and touching infected surfaces are the two main Influenza’s mode of transmission.
Influenza’s Demographic
There is a high Influenza morbidity rate in the United States, although it has been declining over the last few years. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals 35.5 million positive influenza cases in the United States in the 2018-2019 seasons. However, there has been a recent noticeable decrease in influenza-positive cases. As compared to the 2018-2019 seasons, the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention discloses the presence of approximately 29 million positive confirmed influenza cases in the United States during the 2019-2020 season. The two seasons illustrate a noticeable decrease in influenza cases by 6.5 million in the United States. With such records, it is thus evident that Influenza’s morbidity rate continues to decrease over the recent few years, but there is still a high number of Influenza’s cases in the United States.
There is a significant influenzas’ mortality, both in the United States and the entire world. The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention discloses the presence of 24,000 to 62,000 flu deaths in the United States from October 2019 to April 2020. The mortality rate has and continues to be high all over the globe. For instance, in recent collaborative research with the United States for Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization, The National Center for Biotechnology Information reveals the presence of 300,000 to 500,000 annual deaths all over the globe. Such high United States’ and global mortality rates are associated with many influenzas’ severe cases. For instance, there are three to five million annual severe influenza cases all over the globe. On the other hand, the United States had 410,000 to 740,000 influenzas’ severe cases from October 2019 to April 2020. Thus, the high number of Influenza’s severe cases contributes to its high mortality rates, both in the United States and globally.
Influenza as a Reportable Disease
Influenza is a reportable disease under the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s surveillance manual. A disease is only reportable if there is the requirement to report its positive cases or any possible suggesting symptoms to the state, local health, and federal health officials upon successful diagnosis. Influenza can be said to be a reportable disease based on the outlines and requirements of the United States Center for Diseases Control and Prevention surveillance system. The National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System requires the public to report certain Influenza cases such as influenza-related infant deaths, Haemophilus Influenza invasive disease cases, and novel influenza A virus infections. These are some cases the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention requires the hospitals, health facilities, and existing laboratories to report to the Federal Department of Health and the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. The requirement for the laboratories and any hospitals reporting such cases constitutes to Influenza is a reportable disease. Epidemiology Paper on Influenza
However, there is a variation in the requirements for reporting the three Influenza-related cases. For instance, the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System requires the laboratories and any testing facilities to report Influenza infant related deaths immediately. Contrary, the Surveillance System requires laboratories to report Novel Influenza A virus infections and Haemophilus Influenza Virus B disease within four days of their recognition. The report should illustrate and confirm Haemophilus Influenza invasive disease’s recognition through any of these laboratory tests – blood isolation, peritoneal fluid, pleural fluid, pericardial fluid, joint fluid, and cerebrospinal fluid test (Tsang et al., 2016). Any of these laboratory tests will confirm the presence of the Influenza B virus.
Social Determinants of Health
Social determinants of health refer to the socio-economic conditions influencing a community’s or individuals’ health status. These conditions include the individuals’ socioeconomic status, employment, education level, physical environment, and neighborhood (Artiga & Hinton, 2019). Other conditions include the presence or absence of social support networks and access to healthcare. These conditions focus on varying aspects. For instance, access to healthcare focuses on health coverage, its availability, the cost involved, and its quality of care. On the other hand, employment focuses on the individuals’ income level and their capability of paying medical bills, health insurance, and healthcare costs. These socio-economic conditions influence various health outcomes such as individuals’ health status and life expectancy, disease morbidity, and community’s mortality (Artiga & Hinton, 2019). A solid example is where high health illiteracy levels will result in high morbidity rates’ of most communicable diseases within the community.
There are various social determinants of health relating to, impact and influence on Influenza’s morbidity and outbreaks in the United States. These social determinants include access to healthcare services and Influenza’s vaccination, school and workplace policies, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, education, and neighborhood-level stressors (Cordoba & Aiello, 2016). These social determinants of health influence Influenza’s morbidity and severity in different ways. For instance, the immense inequalities in the United States, especially for the minor and marginalized communities, hinder them from accessing quality Influenza’s healthcare and relative vaccination. The said ethnic minorities and marginalized communities are unaware of, unable to access, and utilize Influenzas’ non-pharmaceutical prevention interventions such as isolation, voluntary home quarantine, treatment, and hand hygiene (Cordoba & Aiello, 2016). Such inequalities place the marginalized communities and minorities at a high risk of contracting Influenza, its high prevalence, severity, hospitalization, and mortality rates.
Individual-level factors influence Influenza’s contracting, prevalence, and mortality rates. The individual-level factors include individuals’ employment and income level. Various studies reveal low-income earners are at high risk of contracting Influenza than those with high income. For instance, a relative United States’ research reveals that high incomes earners have twice Influenza’s healthcare utilization rates as compared to the low-income ones resulting in the latter having a high Influenza morbidity rate (Cordoba & Aiello, 2016). Thus, individual-level factors such as income and employment levels influence Influenza’s morbidity and mortality rates. Epidemiology Paper on Influenza
Detrimental health behaviors and co-morbidities are other significant social determinants of Influenza. Past relative studies associate the existence of co-morbidities with severe and high Influenza prevalence, hospitalization, and premature death rates. Some of the main associating co-morbidities include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes (Cordoba & Aiello, 2016). Similarly, individuals’ detrimental health behaviors like alcohol abuse and smoking increase the Influenza’s infection risk and morbidity rates. A solid example is where individuals engaging in either smoking or alcohol abuse had high Influenza’s infection rates than their counterparts (Cordoba & Aiello, 2016). Thus, the presence of comorbidities such as obesity and asthma and detrimental health behaviors like smoking is Influenza’s social determinants, for they influence the variation of its morbidity rates.
Influenzas’ Epidemiology Triangle
Influenzas’ epidemiology triangles comprise of six aspects with varying aspects. These aspects include the infectious agent, susceptible host, and mode of transmission, reservoirs, portal of re-entry, and portal of exit. The influenzas’ infectious agent is the influenza virus, with a variation for both of the two main types- Influenza A and Influenza B. The earlier has its infectious agent as Influenza A virus, and that of the latter being an influenza B virus. The major influenzas’ virus virulence is a multi-basic cleavage site specifically within hemagglutinin (Tscherne & García-Sastre, 2017). However, the influenzas’ virus pathogenicity depends on both the host immune responses and viral proteins’ function.
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In addition, the Influenzas’ epidemiology triangle illustrates the communication of its three main factors- host, agent, and environment. The Influenzas’ gent factor refers to the Influenza viruses that can either be Influenza-virus A, B, or C. The primary Influenza’s host agents are human beings, particularly for the virus infection. Influenza viruses are very resilient and versatile, with temperature and humidity as the two environmental factors that influence their quick transmission. Low temperature and humidity are drivers of viral Influenzas’ air droplets transmission, which accounts for the Influenzas’ seasonal morbidity nature (Bui et al., 2017). Tropical climates, featuring cool climate and harsh weather, is another favorable environmental factor for the spread of Influenzas’ viruses. It is for this reason that the Influenzas have high flu infections rates. However, the host becomes less susceptible to Influenza infections through immunization and high hand hygiene (Bui et al., 2017). The latter will more often impede Influenza’s virus transmission chain, particularly from the reservoir to the next favorable human host.
Influenzas’ epidemiology triangle reveals its special considerations for communities. Communities within tropical climates have high morbidity rates due to the favorable environmental factors of harsh weather and cool climate. More so, communities with high poverty levels, limited access to Influenza’s healthcare and vaccinations are susceptible to high Influenzas’ viral infections (Bui et al., 2017). Such arises from the limited, if any, immunization cases within the said communities. Lastly, communities residing within a low hygiene environment are susceptible to high Influenzas’ infections and morbidity rates. Such communities lack practicing high hand hygiene, a major inhibitor for immense Influenzas’ infections and transmission.Epidemiology Paper on Influenza
Role of Community Health Nurse
The community health nurse plays a great role in Influenza’s case finding, data collection, data analysis, reporting, and case follow-up. The nurse can do so through various ways, such as conducting researches, windshield surveys, and reviewing literature on a certain community’s demographics, influenzas’ cases, and its susceptibility to high viral infections and transmissions. Such influenza-related data and that of the community demographics are vital to the health of the community in various ways. First, the data reveal the infection rates, Influenzas’ morbidity rates, as well as possible existing Influenzas’ virus mode of transmission within the community. The data also reveals the social determinants of Influenza’s morbidity, hospitalization, and death rates of a specific community. These enlighten the community health nurse on a particular community, which enables ease formulation of personalized but effective strategies of curbing Influenzas’ viral infections and transmission within a given community.
The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention is a noticeable national agency addressing Influenza. The agency contributes to resolving and reducing Influenza’s impact and transmission rate through two various ways- the presence of the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System and offering Influenza’s health education. The National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System is an inclusive component of the said agency, which tracks the Influenzas’ positive cases within the United States community. Such reduces the high rate of Influenza’s viral transmission and morbidity. On the other hand, offering Influenzas’ health education educates the United States community on the said disease major aspects such as effective prevention ways. Doing so enables the federal agency to curb the high Influenza’s viral infection and transmission, a major way of reducing the diseases’ impact within the community.
Influenza’s Global Implication
A primary Influenza’s global implication is its high mortality rates. The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention discloses high influenzas’ mortality rates all over the globe for the last recent years. For instance, there are 290,000 to 650,000 annual influenza-related deaths in the world. Unlike the United States, most developing countries in Africa address high prevailing influenzas’ mortality rates in various ways. Mainly, the countries consider improving the hygiene levels, with a very low concentration on Influenzas’ immunization and health education. Their economic status and citizen’s high poverty level which limits their capabilities of catering health insurance impedes the developing countries from concentrating on the provision of influenzas’ immunization (Cotlear et al., 2015). On the contrarily, the United States addresses Influenza through an emphasis on its immunization and provision of online health education. The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention considers endemic in countries such as Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, and India. Epidemiology Paper on Influenza
Conclusion
Influenza is a communicable disease with the influenza virus as its causative agent. The disease more often involved viral infections affecting an individuals’ respiratory system. It associates with high morbidity, hospitalization, and mortality rates, both in the United States and all over the globe. However, influenzas’ morbidity levels will vary from one location and community to another. Such variation arises from and is influenced by the Influenzas’ associating social determinants. Influenza’s main social determinants include individuals’ detrimental health behaviors, comorbidities, access to influenzas’ health care and vaccination, and their employment, education, and income levels.
References
Artiga, S., & Hinton, E. (2019). Beyond health care: the role of social determinants in promoting health and health equity. Health, 20(10), 1-13.
Bui, C. M., Chughtai, A. A., Adam, D. C., & MacIntyre, C. R. (2017). An overview of the epidemiology and emergence of Influenza A infection in humans over time. Archives of Public Health, 75(1), 15.
Cotlear, D., Nagpal, S., Smith, O., Tandon, A., & Cortez, R. (2015). Going universal: how 24 developing countries are implementing universal health coverage from the bottom up. The World Bank.
Cordoba, E., & Aiello, A. E. (2016). Social determinants of influenza illness and outbreaks in the United States. North Carolina Medical Journal, 77(5), 341-345.
Tscherne, D. M., & García-Sastre, A. (2017). Virulence determinants of pandemic influenza viruses. The Journal of clinical investigation, 121(1), 6-13.
Tsang, R. S., Li, Y. A., Mullen, A., Baikie, M., Whyte, K., Shuel, M., … & Spika, J. (2016). Laboratory characterization of invasive Haemophilus influenzae isolates from Nunavut, Canada, 2000–2012. International journal of circumpolar health, 75(1), 29798.
Cordoba, E., & Aiello, A. E. (2016). Social determinants of influenza illness and outbreaks in the United States. North Carolina Medical Journal, 77(5), 341-345. Epidemiology Paper on Influenza