(Re)Emerging Diseases Flashcards
Trends in infectious disease
- Receded in Western countries 20th century d/t urban sanitation, improved housing, personal hygiene, antisepsis & vaccination
- Antibiotics further suppressed morbidity & mortality
Trends since last quarter of 20th century
Unusually large number- Rotavirus, Cryptosporidiosis, HIV/AIDS, Hantaviraus, Lyme disease, Legionellosis, Hepatitis C
Define re-emerging infectious disease
Infectious agents that have been known for some time, had fallen to such low levels that they were no longer considered public health problems & are now showing upward trends in incidence or prevalence worldwide
Define emerging infectious disease
Newly identified & previously unknown infectious agents that cause public health problems either locally or internationally
Factors contributing to emergence
-Agent
- Evolution of pathogenic infectious agents (microbial adaptation & change)
- Development of resistance to drugs
- Resistance of vectors to pesticides
Factors contributing to emergence
-Host
- Human demographic change (inhabiting new areas)
- Human behavior (sexual & drug use)
- Human susceptibility to infection (Immunosuppression)
- Poverty & social inequality
Factors contributing to emergence
-Environment
- Climate & changing ecosystems
- Economic development & Land use (urbanization, deforestation)
- Technology & industry (food processing & handling)
Other factors contributing to emergence
- International travel & commerce
- Breakdown of public health measure (war, unrest, overcrowding)
- Deterioration in surveillance systems (lack of political will)
List the factors influencing transmission of infectious agents from animals to humans
- > 2/3rd emerging infections originate from animals- wild & domestic
- Emerging Influenza infections in Humans associated with Geese, Chickens & Pigs
- Animal displacement in search of food after deforestation/climate change
- Humans themselves penetrate/ modify unpopulated regions- come closer to animal reservoirs/ vectors (Yellow fever, Malaria)
What climate and environmental changes influence emergence?
- Deforestation forces animals into closer human contact- increased possibility for agents to breach species barrier between animals & humans
- El Nino- Triggers natural disasters & related outbreaks of infectious diseases (Malaria, Cholera)
- Global warming- spread of Malaria, Dengue
How does poverty, neglect, and health infrastructure affect emergence?
- Poor populations are major reservoir & source of continued transmission
- Poverty- Malnutrition- Severe infectious disease cycle
- Lack of funding, Poor prioritization of health funds, Misplaced in curative rather than preventive infrastructure
- Failure to develop adequate health delivery systems
What role does uncontrolled urbanization and population displacement play in emergence?
- Growth of densely populated cities- substandard housing, unsafe water, poor sanitation, overcrowding, indoor air pollution (>10% preventable ill health)
- Problem of refugees & displaced persons
- Diarrheal & Intestinal parasitic disease, Lyme disease- Changes in ecology, increasing deer populations, suburban migration of population
What human behaviors affect emergence?
- Unsafe sexual practices (HIV, Gonorrhea, Syphilis)
- Changes in agricultural & food production patterns- food-borne infectious agents (E. coli)
- Increased international travel (Influenza)
- Outdoor activity
What are the causes of antimicrobial drug resistance?
- Wrong prescribing practices
- Non-adherence by patients
- Counterfeit drugs
- Loss of effectiveness seen in: community-acquired (TB, pneumococcal) & hospital-acquired (enterococcal, staphylococcal) as well as in antiviral (HIV, antiprotozoal (malaria), antifungal
What are the consequences of antimicrobial drug resistance?
- Prolonged hospital admissions
- Higher death rates from infections
- Requires more expensive, more toxic drugs
- Higher health care costs
Causative organism of anthrax
Bacillus anthracis - gram positive, rod-shaped bacteria
Where is anthrax found?
Found naturally in soil and commonly affects domestic and wild animals around the world
How are animals/people infected with anthrax?
- Rarely, people can get sick with anthrax if they come in contact with infected animals or contaminated animal products
- Animals can become infected when they breathe in or ingest spores contaminated in soil, plants, or water
Anthrax infection in humans
- Human get infected when anthrax spores get into the body
- This can happen when people breathe in spores, eat food or drink contaminated with spores, or get spores in a cut or scrape in the skin
- It is very uncommon for people in the US to get infected with anthrax
Where is anthrax more common?
In developing countries and countries that do not have veterinary public health programs that routinely vaccinate animals against anthrax
Explain the importance of anthrax in spore form.
- When anthrax is disseminated as a biological weapon, it is disseminated as the spore form
- When that spore enters either an open wound in the skin, the gastrointestinal tract, or the lung of a victim, it undergoes germination into the bacillus form as mentioned above
Where does germination and multiplication of anthrax occur in humans?
- Especially in the inhalational form, this germination takes place in a macrophage
- Anthrax is able to resist the destruction by macrophages
- Once within this macrophage it is transported to a regional lymph nodes
- Once the macrophage arrives at the lymph node the anthrax multiplies
What toxins are produced after anthrax multiplies?
- Once it multiplies it produces two toxins, one called edema toxin and one called lethal toxin
- These toxins cause massive amounts of tissue edema as well as tissue necrosis
- *The growth of this bacteria, and the production of these toxins, produces the clinical picture of anthrax, and the eventual death of the patient with inhalational anthrax
Define anthrax toxemia
Toxemia is when the amount of anthrax toxin in the victim is enough to cause severe illness and/or death
List the 3 anthrax clinical syndromes
- Cutaneous
- Gastrointestinal
- Inhalational
Etiology of the 3 anthrax clinical syndromes
- Typically the inhalation and GI forms carry a very high mortality rate
- The cutaneous form of anthrax, which is the much more common and natural form of anthrax, typically has a very low mortality with antibiotic treatment
- If left untreated, cutaneous anthrax can progress to creating a generalized infection that can also be fatal (approximately 20%)
How does GI anthrax develop?
After ingestion of contaminated, poorly cooked meat
Clinical presentation of GI anthrax
- Abdominal pain, usually accompanied by bloody vomiting or diarrhea, followed by fever and signs of severe infection
- GI anthrax is sometimes seen as mouth and throat ulcerations with tender neck glands and fever
Incubation and fatality of GI anthrax
- Incubation period: 1–7 days
- Case-fatality: 25–90% (role of early antibiotic treatment is undefined)
Clinical presentation of cutaneous anthrax
- Begins as a papule, progresses through a vesicular stage to a depressed black necrotic ulcer (eschar)
- Edema, redness, and/or necrosis without ulceration may occur
How does cutaneous anthrax develop?
This form MC encountered in naturally occurring cases*
Incubation and fatality of cutaneous anthrax
- Incubation period: 1–12 days
- Case-fatality: without antibiotic treatment: 20%; with antibiotic treatment: 1%
Clinical presentation of inhalational anthrax
- A brief prodrome resembling a “viral-like” illness, characterized by muscle aches, fatigue, fever, with or without respiratory symptoms, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain
- As symptoms progress, more significant respiratory complaints develop, and patients may become significantly short of breath with complaints of air hunger.
Which symptoms suggest anthrax meningitis?
Confusion, neck stiffness, and headache suggest anthrax meningitis (seen in 50% of patients)
What is the incubation period for inhalational anthrax?
1-6 days
What symptoms occur during the terminal phase of inhalational anthrax?
Dyspnea, stridor, cyanosis, shock, chest wall edema, meningitis, widened mediastinum with effusion with overall toxic/septic clinical picture
*Death within 24 hrs if it reaches the terminal phase
Diagnosis of anthrax
- Sudden onset of respiratory distress with mediastinal widening on x-ray
- A small number of patients may present with GI or cutaneous anthrax
- Gram stain of blood and blood cultures - but these may be late findings in the course of the illness
- PCR and immunohistology testing may confirm diagnosis but samples must go to reference laboratory
Acute treatment of anthrax
- Abx for most infections; inhalation anthrax is harder to treat and can be fatal.
- Ciprofloxacin - 400 mg IV q 8 to 12 hr
- Doxycycline - 100 mg IV q 12 hr
- Antitoxin
- Vaccination*
Post-exposure anthrax treatment
- Oral prophylaxis
- Ciprofloxacin (500 mg PO q12 h) X 60 days and until 3 doses of vaccine
- Doxycycline (100 mg PO q12 h) X 60 days and until 3 doses of vaccine
- Vaccination
Anthrax Vaccination
- FDA approved 1970
- Cell Free filtrate (NO organisms, dead or alive)
- Adverse effects 1-3%
- It is an immunization regimen that includes 6 injections.
- For this vaccine to remain effective however the patient will require yearly boosters.
What organism causes the plague?
Yersinia pestis - a Gram negative, nonmotile, nonsporulating bacteria
Vector for the plague
- Rodent flea: results in primary bubonic plague
- The plague bacteria can cycle between rats and their fleas.
When was the last plague outbreak?
- The last urban outbreak of rat associated plague in US occurred in Los Angeles in 1924-1925.
- Since that time plague has occurred in rural and semi rural areas of the western US where many types of rodent species are involved.
Clinical presentation of bubonic plague
- Sudden onset of flu-like syndrome (fever, headache, rigors, malaise, myalgias, nausea)
- Buboes formation - within 24 hours - swollen, infected lymph node (very painful!)
- Cutaneous findings in 25% of cases
Incubation and mortality of bubonic plague
- Incubation 1-8 days (mode 3-5 days)
- Mortality: Untreated60%; Treated < 5%
Pneumonic plague clinical presentation
- 2 to 3 day incubation period
- High fever, muscle aches, chills, headache
- Cough with bloody sputum within 24 hours
- Pneumonia progresses rapidly with shortness of breath, stridor, cyanosis, difficulty breathing, chest pain
- Respiratory failure, shock, bleeding
- Plague pneumonia and sepsis develop acutely and may be fulminant
- Patchy lung infiltrates or consolidation seen on chest x-ray
Which form of plague is the most serious and can be spread person to person?
Pneumonic plague