CHAPTER 6: DISEASE CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES Flashcards
what are infectious diseases
transmitted from person to person through the transfer of a pathogen such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites
what are emerging diseases
a disease caused by a newly identified or previously unknown agent
what are re-emerging diseases
- a disease that reappears after a significant decline in its incidence
- re-emerging diseases were once controlled but have increased to a level that causes significant health issues
epidemic
- the widespread of an infectious disease in an area at a particular time
- cholera in Haiti (2010-present)
- ebola in west Africa (2013-2016)
pandemic
- the global outbreak of a disease
- widespread outbreak of a disease over a large geographical area
- an epidemic has become a pandemic once there are community-level outbreaks in at least two WHO regions
- eg COVID-19 6.28 million deaths → 0.08% of population
why living in a ‘globally connected world’ increases the likelihood of pandemics
- transport (planes)
- interact with more people from different communities
impact of European arrival on Indigenous Australians
- Australia is geographically isolated
- prior to European arrival, there was little interaction between Indigenous peoples and Europeans
- after settlement, they brought various new diseases and pathogens
- Major epidemic diseases were introduced
- smallpox, chicken pox, syphilis, tuberculosis, influenza
- indigenous populations had no immunity against them
- large numbers of susceptible individuals and low herd immunity
- the rapid spread of new infectious diseases and significant fatalities
what is in a vaccine
- vaccines are substances that cause an immune response without inducing the disease
- active, artificial immunity
- they can be pathogens that are:
- live attenuated - strain of pathogen that doesn’t cause the disease
- inactivated
- toxoid
- subunits
- they work because your body makes antibodies and memory cells
3 vaccines that are on the Australian vaccination schedule and the age at which they are given
- meningococcal ACWY - 12 months and 14-16yrs
- measles - 12 and 18 months
- HPV - 12-13 years
how vaccines provide long-term immunity
- Stimulate the immune system to produce memory cells
- These memory cells remain in lymphatic system and can initiate a stronger and more rapid immune response upon reinfection with the same specific antigen
why are boosters needed for some vaccines
- to retain a memory of the pathogen and maintain the concentration of antibodies
- killed/inactivated vaccines produce a weaker immune response than live attenuated vaccines so immunity lasts for a shorter period
- need booster for killed/inactivated vaccines to maintain immunity
- BOOSTER SHOTS HELP CREATE LONG TERM MEMORY BECAUSE IT INCREASES THE NUMBER OF MEMORY B CELLS
- This is because memory cells are short lived
why diseases such as Influenza need new vaccines each year
- the virus changes each year
- to keep up with the different strains of the virus
- target the antigens of the specific strain
- any previous vaccinations wouldn’t be effective against the new strains of virus because antigens are different
herd immunity
- indirect protection of populations from infection
- protection is created by the presence of immune individuals
- protection is received by unvaccinated individuals
- those who cannot be vaccinated (old, young, sick and immunocompromised)
- no vaccination - contagious disease spreads
- high vaccination - contagious disease contained (reducing the number of hosts that continue to transmit the pathogen) decreases the spread
- vaccines protect those who can’t be vaccinated
- reduces the number of incidences
95%
the percentage of a population that must be exposed to a disease or a vaccine to achieve herd immunity varies widely for different diseases.
reasons that prevent some people from being vaccinated
- they are immunocompromised
- access to hospitals/medical facitilities
- lack of education
- lack of accessibility to vaccines due to cost
- lack of medical staff who can deliver and administer vaccines
- lack of mandatory vaccination laws
identifying bacteria
- phenotypic methods:
- cell size/shape
- gram -/+
- aerobic/anaerobic
- immunological methods
- MAB
- ELISA
- immunofluorescence
- genotypic/molecular method
- sequence
- probes
identifying viruses
- physical methods
- X-ray crystallography
- electron microscopy
- immunological
- ELISA
- molecular
- probes
- fingerprinting