Infectious Disease and Health Protection Agency Essay Example for Free

Infectious Disease and Health Protection Agency Essay The guidance is divided into sections as follows: Section 1Introduces infection control and explains notification; Section 2deals with general infection control procedures; Section 3gives guidance on the management of outbreaks; Section 4describes specific infectious diseases; Section 5contact numbers and sources of information; Section 6contains additional detailed information and a table of diseases; Section 7contains risk assessments relevant to infection control; Section 8 research sources, references and useful web sites Further information is available from the Food Safety Adviser at Leicestershire County Council and from the Health Protection Agency – East Midlands South. Contact numbers are listed in Section 5. The aim of this document is to provide simple advice on the actions needed in the majority of situations likely to be encountered in social care settings. It is written in everyday language and presented so that individual subject areas can be easily copied for use as a single sheet. 1. 1 HOW ARE INFECTIONS TRANSMITTED? 1. 2 INFECTION CONTROL GUIDANCE Infection control forms part of our everyday lives, usually in the form of common sense and basic hygiene procedures. Where large numbers of people come in contact with each other, the risk of spreading infection increases. This is particularly so where people are in close contact and share eating and living accommodation. It is important to have guidelines to protect service users, staff and visitors. Adopting these guidelines and standard infection control practices will minimise the spread of infectious diseases to everyone. External Factors If you or someone in your immediate family has a â€Å"Notifiable Disease† such as Measles (see 1. 3) or infection such as Impetigo, diarrhoea, vomiting or Scabies, please inform your line manager before coming to work. If you regularly visit people in hospital please be aware of the potential risk of cross infection to yourself and the person you are visiting. Above all when dealing with service users and their families we must all remember we are dealing with people. There will be personal issues of privacy and sensitivity, which we must handle with tact and discretion at all times. What are Infection Control Practices? Infection control practices are ways that everyone (staff, service users volunteers) can prevent the transmission of infection from one person to another. They are practices which should be routinely adopted, at all times with every individual, on every occasion, regardless of whether or not that person is known to have an infection. 1. 2 INFECTION CONTROL GUIDANCE – cont. include: 1. 3 NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES A number of infectious diseases are statutorily notifiable under The Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 and The Public Health (Infectious Diseases) Regulations 1988. There are three main reasons for such notification. So that control measures can be taken To monitor preventative programmes For surveillance of infectious diseases in order to monitor levels of infectious diseases and to detect outbreaks so that effective control measures can be taken. All doctors diagnosing or suspecting a case of any of the infectious diseases listed overleaf have a legal duty to report it to the Proper Officer of the Local Authority, who is usually the Consultant in Communicable Disease Control based at the Health Protection Agency. Notification should be made at the time of clinical diagnosis and should not be delayed until laboratory confirmation is received. Infections marked (T) should be notified by telephone to the Consultant in Communicable Disease Control (see Section 5) and confirmed by completion of a written notification form. 1. 3 NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES – cont. Notifiable Diseases Acute encephalitis Paratyphoid(T) Acute poliomyelitisPlague(T) AnthraxRabies(T) Cholera(T)Relapsing Fever(T) Diphtheria(T)Rubella Dysentry(T)Scarlet Fever Food poisoning orSmall Pox suspected food poisoning LeprosyTetanus LeptospirosisTuberculosis MalariaTyphoid fever(T) MeaslesTyphus fever(T) Meningitis * (T)Viral haemorrhagic fever(T) Meningococcal septicaemia(T)Viral hepatitis ** (without meningitis) MumpsWhooping cough Opthalmia neonatorumYellow fever * meningococcal, pneumococcal, haemophilus influenzae, viral, other specified, unspecified ** Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B Hepatitis C, other (T)Please notify the Consultant in Communicable Disease Control or person on call for the Health Protection Agency by telephone. Other specific diseases are designated by the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 as â€Å"Reportable Occupational Diseases† e. g. Legionellosis. Please contact the Health Safety Team for further information (see section 5 for details). 1. 3 NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES – cont. Notification of suspected outbreaks An outbreak is defined as two or more cases of a condition related in time and location with suspicion of transmission. Prompt investigation of an outbreak and introduction of control measures depends upon early communication. Suspicion of any association between cases should prompt contact with the Health Protection Agency. 1. 4 IMMUNISATION COSHH requires that if a risk assessment shows there to be a risk of exposure to biological agents for which vaccines exist, then these should be offered if the employee is not already immune. In practice, with Social Care Services, this generally amounts to care staff within the Mental Health and Learning Disabilities Services being offered Hepatitis B vaccination. Care home managers, after assessing risks, may also offer ‘flu vaccination to staff and individual cases may indicate the need for immunisation in certain circumstances. The pros and cons of immunisation/non-immunisation should be explained when making the offer of immunisation. The Health Safety at Work Act 1974 requires that employees are not charged for protective measures such as immunisation. A few GPs will make vaccinations available free to Social Care workers but they are not obliged to do so and can charge at their discretion. Departmental funding for the provision of vaccine, through Occupational Health, is restricted and so it is vital that only those to whom it is essential to provide immunisation are offered this service. The majority of staff will have received immunisation from childhood and have received the appropriate booster doses e. g. Tetanus, Rubella, Measles and Polio. However, it is important for the immunisation state of staff to be checked e. g. women of childbearing age should be protected against Rubella. Good practice and common sense should indicate that the immunisation state of staff is checked and appropriate action taken. If there is a potential risk of infection, change of work rotas or areas of responsibility can sometimes avoid the risk of contamination. Vaccination is not always the only course of action and in some cases staff may not agree to be vaccinated. 1. 4. 1 IMMUNISATION SCHEDULE Vaccine Age Notes D/T/P and Hib Polio 1st dose at 2 months 2nd dose at 3 months 3rd dose at 4 months Primary Course Measles / Mumps / Rubella (MMR) 12 – 15 months Can be given at any age over 12 months Booster DT and Polio, MMR second dose 3 – 5 years Three years after completion of primary course BCG 10 – 14 years or infancy Only offered to certain high risk groups after an initial risk assessment Booster Tetanus, Diphtheria and Polio 13 – 18 years Children should therefore have received the following vaccines: By 6 months:3 doses of DTP, Hib and Polio By 15 months:Measles / Mumps / Rubella By school entry:4th DT and Polio; second dose of Measles / Mumps / Rubella Between 10 14 years:BCG (certain high risk groups only) Before leaving school:5th Polio and Tetanus Diphtheria (Td) Adults should receive the following vaccines: Women sero-negative Rubella For Rubella: Previously un-immunisedPolio, Tetanus, Diphtheria Individuals: Individuals in high Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A, Influenza risk groups:Pneumonococcal vaccine 1. 5 EXCLUSION FROM WORK The following table gives advice on the minimum period of exclusions from work for staff members suffering from infectious disease (cases) or in contact with a case of infection in their own homes (home contacts). Advice on work exclusions can be sought from CCDC (Consultant in Communicable Disease Control) / HPN (Health Protection Nurse) / CICN (Community Infection Control Nurse) / EHO (Environmental Health Officer) or GP (General Practitioner) Minimum exclusion period Disease Period of Infectivity Case Home contact Chickenpox Infectious for 1-2 days before the onset of symptoms and 6 days after rash appears or until lesions are crusted (if longer) 6 days from onset of rash None. Non-immune pregnant women should seek medical advice Conjunctivitis Until 48 hours after treatment Until discharge stops None Erythema infectiosum (slapped cheek syndrome) 4 days before and until 4 days after the onset of the rash Until clinically well None. Pregnant women should seek medical advice Gastroenteritis (including salmonellosis and shigellosis) As long as organism is present in stools, but mainly while diarrhoea lasts Until clinically well and 48 hours without diarrhoea or vomiting. CCDC or EHO may advise a longer period of exclusion CCDC or EHO will advise on local policy Glandular fever When symptomatic Until clinically well None Giardia lamblia While diarrhoea is present Until 48 hours after first normal stool None Hand, foot and mouth disease As long as active ulcers are present 1 week or until open lesions are healed None Hepatitis A The incubation period is 15-50 days, average 28-30 days. Maximum infectivity occurs during the latter half of the incubation period and continues until 7 days after jaundice appears 1 week after onset of jaundice None – immunisation may be advised (through GP) HIV/AIDS For life None None 1. 5 EXCLUSION FROM WORK – cont. Minimum exclusion period Disease Period of infectivity Case Home contact Measles Up to 4 days before and until 4 days after the rash appears 4 days from the onset of the rash None Meningitis Varies with organism Until clinical recovery None Mumps Greatest infectivity from 2 days before the onset of symptoms to 4 days after symptoms appear 4 days from the onset of the rash None Rubella (German measles) 1 week before and until 5 days after the onset of the rash 4 days from the onset of the rash None Streptococcal sore throat and Scarlet fever As long as the organism is present in the throat, usually up to 48 hours after antibiotic is started Until clinically improved (usually 48 hours after antibiotic is started) None Shingles Until after the last of the lesions are dry Until all lesions are dry – minimum 6 days from the onset of the rash None Tuberculosis Depends on part infected. Patients with open TB usually become non-infectious after 2 weeks of treatment In the case of open TB, until cleared by TB clinic. No exclusion necessary in other situations Will require medical follow-up Threadworm As long as eggs present on perianal skin None but requires treatment Treatment is necessary Typhoid fever As long as case harbours the organism Seek advice from CCDC Seek advice from CCDC Whooping cough 1 week before and until 3 weeks after onset of cough (or 5 days after the start of antibiotic treatment) Until clinically well, but check with CCDC None 1. 5 EXCLUSION FROM WORK – cont. SKIN CONDITIONS Minimum exclusion period Disease Period of infectivity Case Home contact Impetigo As long as purulent lesions are present Until skin has healed or 48 hours after treatment started None. Avoid sharing towels Head lice As long as lice or live eggs are present Exclude until treated Exclude until treated Ringworm 1. Tinea capitis (head) 2. Tinea corporis (body) 3. Tinea pedis (athlete’s foot) As long as active lesions are present As long as active lesions are present As long as active lesions are present Exclusion not always necessary until an epidemic is suspected None None None None None Scabies Until mites and eggs have been destroyed Until day after treatment is given None (GP should treat family) Verrucae (plantar warts) As long as wart is present None (warts should be covered with waterproof dressing for swimming and barefoot activities) None

Man the Hunter Revisited Essay -- Anthropology, Hunting

Man the Hunter: Revisited In 1966, a group of about fifty anthropologists met in Chicago for a conference that would later known as the â€Å"Man the Hunter† meeting. The meeting contrasted with earlier scholarship and presented a Hollywood approach to the topic of early man, one where our ancestors were strong, powerful, and in control of their environment. Anthropologists Sherwood L. Washburn and C.S. Lancaster (1968), both present at the conference claimed, â€Å"our intellect, interests, emotions, and basic social life—all are evolutionary products of the success of the hunting adaptation†. The book Man the Hunter that emerged from the conference forced a re-evaluation of human subsistence strategies and the role of the hunter in human society. Although the idea of man as hunter, and thus exclusive provider, was initially disproved when it was shown that humans also relied on scavenging and were indeed hunted, the theory maintains relevance in modern anthropology. The theory itself p ushed researchers to challenge prior assumptions regarding the role of females in society and helped develop the hunter-gatherer by sex theory that remains in place today. Importantly, whereas the original man as hunter thesis was groundbreaking because it challenged the scientific communities’ prior belief in an ancient man who was primitive and weak, modern researchers have built off of the man the hunter thesis and now debate the motivations for men to hunt. While our human ancestors may not have been the strong, bloodthirsty, killers once imagined by Raymond Dart, new studies conducted by modern anthropologists have revived this famous, yet once discarded theory. The authors who contributed to the Man the Hunter text (1968) concluded, â€Å"to assert th... ... from a more balanced perspective. Given the importance of the theory and its affect on how modern humans view our ancestral past, the studies themselves have exposed the depth of which cultural bias can affect scientific outcome. The male dominated research of the 1960’s produced an image of ancestral man akin to a comic superhero, large, brawny, and dominant. In response, the female literature of the 1970’s and 1980’s discredited the ideas and placed emphasis on the woman gatherer in early society. Likewise, modern research has attempted to distance itself from the bias of the past, however even today assumptions make there way in to the research. While the man the hunter theory may not be headline news in this modern era, present day research approaching our past from a more scientific approach appears to have restored credibility to the once tarnished model.

Will We Save the Earth in Time?

The Earth's atmosphere has changed from the beginning of time. Just over the most recent 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of chilly development and withdraw, with the sudden end of the last ice age around 7,000 years back denoting the start of the advanced atmosphere period — and of human progress. While different planets in Earth's close planetary system are either searing hot or intensely frigid, Earth's surface has generally placid, stable temperatures. Earth values these temperatures on account of its environment, or, in other words layer of gases that shroud and ensure the planet. The atmosphere has changed when the planet got too much daylight because of unobtrusive moves in its circle, as the climate or surface changed, or when the sun's vitality shifted. However, in the previous century, another power has begun to impact Earth's atmosphere: mankind. The vast majority of these atmosphere changes are ascribed to little varieties in Earth's circle that change the measure of sun-based vitality our planet gets. The present warming pattern is of specific caliber in light of the fact that the vast majority of it is to a great degree likely to be the after effect of human action since the mid-twentieth century and continuing at a rate that is extraordinary over decades to centuries. â€Å"Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. This body of data, collected over many years, reveals the signals of a changing climate† (Callery). Raw data collected over the years and we can tangibly see. One is the data in which the NASA representative, Sellers, shows Leonardo DiCaprio at one hour and eighteen minutes. He's shows DiCaprio a model simulation of the earth via satellites that have taken renders of the Earth over the years in different aspects. Clouds, sea surface temperature, carbon dioxide. All of these plugged into seeing the change in climate of the Earth as a whole. The warmth catching nature of carbon dioxide and different gases was shown in the mid-nineteenth century. Their capacity to influence the exchange of infrared vitality through the environment is the logical premise of numerous instruments flown by NASA. There is no doubt that expanded levels of ozone depleting substances must be the reason for the Earth's warming. The trading of approaching and active radiation that warms the Earth is frequently alluded to as the greenhouse effect in light of the fact that a greenhouse works similarly. The documentary talks about the rain forests and the way they are being burned and destroyed, causing harm to our climate and our planet. Lindsey Allen, at forty-six minutes, explains what happens to trees when they are burned. The carbon that they gather from other creatures such as humans is stored within the tree and when those trees burn, all of the carbon is released into the atmosphere, setting off a chain reaction of greenhouse gases. At forty-six minutes and twenty seconds she states, â€Å"It acts like a carbon bomb and releases massive carbon emission back into the atmosphere† (Monroe). The greenhouse effect, joined with expanding levels of ozone harming substances and the subsequent an unnatural weather change, is relied upon to have significant ramifications, as indicated by the close general agreement of researchers. â€Å"Currently, some scientists are investigating how to re-engineer the atmosphere to reverse global warming. For example, theories published in the journal Science in July 2017 by lrike Lohmann and BlaÃ… ¾ Gasparini, researchers at the Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Science at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, proposed reducing cirrus clouds that trap heat.† (Lallalina) During the conversation that DiCaprio had with President Barack Obama he states at one hour and twelve minutes that the Paris treaty is creating the architecture that allows us to finally start dealing with this problem in a serious way. However, it does not matter if every country does not actually do it and within the slim time limit that the earth has. Numerous researchers concur that the harm to the Earth's air and atmosphere is past the final turning point or that the harm is close to the final turning point. â€Å"I agree that we have passed the point of climate change,† Josef Werne, a partner teaching at the division of geography and planetary science at the University of Pittsburgh disclosed to Live Science. The impact of accrued surface temperatures is critical in itself. However, heating can have further, comprehensive effects on the earth. Warming modifies downfall patterns, amplifies coastal erosion, lengthens the season in some areas, melts ice caps and glaciers, and alters the ranges of some contagious diseases. A number of these changes are already happening though. that of Greenland's top layer melting away completely. The guide and representative that showed DiCaprio around the surface of Greenland states at eighteen minutes, â€Å"This was a hose that went down thirty feet, and now it's melted out† (Monroe). All within five years an entire thirty-foot layer melted away from Greenland as a whole. The climate isn't the sole factor global warming will impact: rising ocean levels will erode coasts and cause a lot of frequent coastal flooding. Some island nations will vanish. The matter is severe since up to ten percent of the world's population lives in defenseless areas less than ten meters higher than sea level. â€Å"Between 1870 and 2000, the sea level increased by 1.7 millimeters per year on average, for a total sea level rise of 8.7 inches. And the rate of sea level rise is accelerating. Since 1993, NASA satellites have shown that sea levels are rising more quickly, about 3 millimeters per year, for a total sea level rise of 1.89 inches between 1993 and 2009.† (Levy) As temperatures rise, ice will soften all the more rapidly. Satellite estimations uncover that the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets are shedding around 125 billion tons of ice for every year—enough to raise ocean levels by 0.01 inches every year. In the event that the liquefying quickens, the expansion in ocean level could be altogether higher.

A National Debt Is The Difference Between The Government...

In the simply way, a national debt is the difference between the government’s budget/deficit and the expenditures. The U.S. federal debt was set up by the first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton. Our initial debt incurred during the American Revolutionary War. Over the following 45 years, the debt grew. Although, the national debt actually shrank to zero by January 1835, under President Andrew Jackson, it quickly grew into the millions again, soon after. The American Civil War resulted in dramatic debt growth. The debt was just $65 million in 1860, but passed $1 billion in 1863 and had reached $2.7 billion following the war (USGovernmentSpending.Com). At the beginning of the 20th century, the total government debt was â€Å"equally†¦show more content†¦Next, President Bush increased the national debt further to fight the war on terror and bail out the banks. In summary, between 1980 and 1990, the debt more than tripled. The debt shrank briefly after the end of t he Cold War, but by the end of 2008, the gross national debt had reached $10.3 trillion, about 10 times its 1980 level (USGovernmentSpending.Com). There has been continues increase in U.S. national debt in the 21 century. In recent years there has been a debt ceiling in effect. Whereas Congress once approved legislation for every debt issuance, the growth of government fiscal operations in the 20th century made this impractical. The Treasury was granted authority by the Congress to issue such debt as was needed to fund government operations as long as the total debt did not exceed a stated ceiling. The ceiling is routinely raised by passage of new laws by the United States Congress. In recent years, that national debt is a fact of life. Based on the government statistic data, the U.S. debt has surpassed 100 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and â€Å"public debt may approach 190% of GDP by 2035† (Driver and Matthew 2). During the last 15 years we experienced a massive increase of the debt. There are several factors that lined up to cause this situation. One of the biggest issues is the overburdened Social Security system. Due to increasing number of retirees and longer life spans leading to more benefits payments, and decreasing