4-1 Discussion: Investigation of Diseases Discussion Topic

Choose a global communicable or chronic disease that interests you and describe it in epidemiological terms. This should include a brief history of the disease, a definition of the disease and symptoms, the treatment prognosis, and incidence, prevalence, morbidity, and mortality data. Also include major risk factors of the disease and populations at risk. Use current evidence to develop and support your post.

In response to your peers, compare their findings to your own and suggest levels of prevention to reduce incidences of the disease.

POST

I don’t think so. but FYI, I am taking public health nursing.Population HealthEpidemiology addresses concerns in community health such as air pollution, spread of disease, and suicide. By definition, epidemiology is “the study of the distribution and determinants of health problems in specified populations and the application of this study to control health problems” (Last, 2001). The term is derived from the word epidemic, which is the outbreak of disease that affects a large group in a specific geographic area or defined population.Community health nurses use epidemiological data to address similarities among groups that do or do not develop a specific disease. It is also helpful to look at the multifactorial causes of a specific process related to the agent, host, or environment. This is also known as the epidemiological triangle (CDC, 2014).The agent is considered to be the “what” of the triangle. The host is the “who” and the environment is the “where.” We could apply this to the spread on influenza in an acute care setting. The agent in this scenario could be an infected visitor, patient, or nurse. The host could be another patient, visitor, or healthcare worker. Factors to consider about the susceptibility of the host are immune status, vaccination history, age, and medications. The environment includes anything that may influence the exposure to, or transmission of, the agent from the source to the host. The environment may contribute to the survival of and transmission of the agent. Environmental examples include temperature of setting, hand washing, and housekeeping.In public health, we are able to target any of these three examples to prevent the spread of disease. For example, limiting visitors during flu season could limit the ability of the agent to reach the susceptible host. Another example is increasing the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting hard surfaces in an effort to decrease the likelihood that the agent is able to survive in the environment.