Assignment: Disease Control

Assignment: Disease Control
Assignment: Disease Control
Journal Details
Review the following websites and activities.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]. Solve the outbreak. Disease detective. Retrieved from
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2017). Partnering to heal. Retrieved from
Create a journal entry of 200-250 words reflecting on your personal experiences or thoughts regarding the activities at these sites, the content and epidemiological methods utilized. Are you able to identify modes of transmission and implement interventions better with these learning tools? Have you ever participated in an outbreak investigation or care of a person during such an event? Share your insights to outbreak investigation and the use of epidemiology tools.
Overview of infectious disease control principles
Infectious diseases continue to be a major source of morbidity, disability, and death around the world.
Lower respiratory infections are the third biggest cause of death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) (World Health Organization, 2008).
Controlling them is a continuing issue for medical personnel and public health officials in both developed and developing countries.
Only one infectious illness, smallpox, has been eradicated, and it represents a watershed moment in the history of infectious disease control.
The world community has made significant progress in eliminating poliomyelitis and dracunculiasis (Guinea worm infection).
Other infectious illnesses, such as malaria and tuberculosis, have eluded eradication or control efforts and are resurfacing as growing dangers in a number of nations, both developing and developed.
If control measures are not maintained, infectious diseases such as tetanus will always remain a hazard.
Newer infectious diseases, such as AIDS, show that infectious disease will continue to be “one of the essential dimensions and determinants of human history,” as McNeill predicted.
The history of infectious diseases is a fascinating subject in in of itself, and readers interested in learning more can consult McNeill (1976) or a complete study on the history of human diseases (Kiple 1993).
This chapter examines the magnitude of disease burden, the chain of infection (agent, transmission, and host) of infectious diseases, the various approaches to their prevention and control, and the factors conducive to their eradication as well as emergence and re-emergence to provide a global and comprehensive view of infectious disease control.
Although this chapter includes numerous instances of infectious diseases to demonstrate modes of transmission and techniques to infectious disease control, it does not purport to be comprehensive in its coverage of all infectious diseases.
In the updated reports of the American Public Health Association, Control of Communicable Diseases Manual (Heymann 2010), the comprehensive two-volume work Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett’s Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases (Mandell et al. 2009), and the textbook Infectious Diseases, detailed recommendations on control measures for any specific disease are outlined on a regular basis (Gorbach et al. 2004).
There is a comprehensive two-volume Feigin and Cherry’s Textbook of Pediatric Infectious Diseases (Feigin et al. 2009) for readers interested in paediatric infectious diseases; a textbook Infectious Diseases: Emergency Department Diagnosis & Management (Red and White Emergency Medicine Series) (Slaven et al. 2006) for infectious diseases in emergency medicine settings; and a textbook Tropical Infectious Diseases: Pediatric Infectious Diseases: P (Guerrant et al. 2011).
Atlas of Human Infectious Diseases provides a comprehensive treatment of infectious illness distribution around the world (Wertheim et al. 2012).
In the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes up-to-date disease surveillance information for the United States as well as recommendations for control measures, and the Summary of Notifiable Diseases, United States provides annual summaries of notifiable infectious diseases (CDC 2011).
Similar publications can be found in many other nations.
The WHO’s Weekly Epidemiological Record publishes global surveillance data and suggestions for control measures.
Chapters 8.11–8.15 provide a more extensive foundation on infectious agents as determinants of health and disease.