chapter ; 7 communicable diseases Flashcards
infections of public health importance are primarily those that are communicable; that is, they can be transmitted from person to person, or from animals or the physical environment to humans
yes
noncommunicable diseases can use vaccination, drugs, antibiotics
yes
communicable diseases can cause widespread or epidemic disease, but they can also become endemic and be regularly present and routine causes of death
yes
RNA viruses pose the greatest danger of pandemic
(replicate rapidly and have the potential for mutation with each replication)
yes
there are a large number of RNA viruses in animals and many have the potential to cross over to humans
yes
Koch’s postulates, intended for bacteria, hold that in order to definitively establish a cause and effect relationship, all of the following four conditions must be met
- the bacteria must be present in every case of the disease
- the bacteria must be isolated from the host with the disease and grown in pure culture
- the specific disease must be produced when a pure culture of the bacteria is inoculated into a healthy susceptible host
- the the bacteria must be recoverable from the experimentally infected host
the modern and improved ‘modern Koch’s postulates’
- individual association between the presence of the pathogen and the presence of a disease in human beings
- isolation of the pathogen through culturing or genetic sequencing of the pathogen from most, of not all, of those the disease
- transmission of the identical pathogen to another individual who develops the same disease, thereby definitively establishing that a potential pathogen is a contributory cause of the disease
examples of methods of transmission for communicable diseases
- insects
- other animals
- airborne
- sexual transmission
- water/food
- fecal/oral
-transfusions/blood/contaminated needles - transplacental
- breastfeeding
- contaminated articles including contaminated needles
diseases transmitted by the respiratory route generally have the highest R0
yes
the period of communicability is how long they can transmit the disease
yes
chronic carriers are individuals who have recovered from the acute disease continue to have the ability to transmit the disease
yes
asymptomatic transmission is the ability to transmit the disease before the occurrence of symptoms or in the absence of symptoms
yes
a range of public health tools are available to reduce transmission of communicable diseases
- barrier protections, including isolation and quarantine
- screening and contact tracing
- immunization designed to protect populations as well as individuals
- antibiotic and antiviral treatment
- elimination or eradication
immunization refers to the strengthening of the immune system to prevent or control disease. transfusion of antibodies may be administered to achieve passive immunity, which may be used early in the disease to provide effective short term protection
yes
traditional vaccines have been classified as inactivated vaccines (dead) and attenuated vaccines (live), and both can stimulate the bodies own antibody production
yes
live vaccines utilize living but weakened organisms that also strongly stimulate cell mediated immunity and produce long term protection that more closely resembles the body’s own response to infection
yes
