Epidemiology & Population

 

ERADICATION OF SMALLPOX, POLIO, AND COVID-19

 

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to  two of your colleagues in one or more of the following ways:

 

· Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence, or research.

 

· Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.

 

· Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.

 

· Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.

 

· Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.

 

· Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.

 

PEER #1

 

Serena Valino

 

                                                    Defining Transmission and Eradication Efforts

 

Small Pox- Airborne and spread by face-to-face contact with an infected person and to a lesser extent through contaminated items(Center for Global Development, n.d.). Eradication efforts included government mass vaccination and re-vaccination programs. Barriers were cold storage solutions for vaccines and the need to consistently produce large quantities of vaccines (Center for Global Development, n.d.)

 

 

 

Polio- Transmitted from person to person through the fecal-oral route(World Health Organization, n.d.-b). Eradication efforts include government vaccination programs(World Health Organization, n.d.-c). The barrier to eradication efforts is a lack of access to sanitation systems and poor hand hygiene (World Health Organization, n.d.-b).

 

 

 

Covid 19- The virus is spread from an infected person’s mouth or nose in small liquid particles when they cough, sneeze, speak, or breathe (World Health Organization, n.d.-a). Eradication efforts include wearing masks, social isolation( at least a 1 meter apart), good hand hygiene, and vaccination(World Health Organization, n.d.-a). The barrier to eradication efforts is resistance to vaccination(World Health Organization, n.d.-a).                                                        

 

                                                            Lessons Learned

 

            Collaboration between governments and vaccination programs was successful in eradicating smallpox and bringing down the number of cases of Polio across the world. Efforts to repeat the same methodology of eradication are currently being seen with COVID-19 as government officials are attempting to mass vaccinate and revaccinate citizens. One of the largest differences in the COVID-19 eradication efforts is the efforts with masking and social isolation. These differences could be attributed to the transmission mode of the disease which is fecal to oral for Polio and the lack of equipment/supplies for the smallpox outbreak in the 60’s where access to masking and the ability to work from home (computer access) wasn’t as prominent.

 

                                                   Addressing Health Problems at a Population Level

 

            Addressing infectious diseases at a population level has clear benefits in helping minimize the spread of the disease, healthcare costs, and the impact on long-term health consequences for those affected by the disease. By pooling resources, sharing information, and developing a plan to eradicate the disease, government-run vaccination programs have almost completely eradicated some of the most crippling diseases. As society continues to seek more healthcare information online, Public Health Departments and Government Health Programs must seek to find innovative ways to control misinformation citizens from obtaining vaccines or following guidance from public health officials. Innovate ways that should be explored are the creation and development of evidence-based digital policy action plans and repercussions for spreading non-evidenced health information that harms citizens and counteracts efforts to eradicate the spread of infectious diseases (Suarez-Lledo & Galvez, 2021).

 

 

 

                                                                                    References

 

Center for Global Development. (n.d.).  Case 1: Eradicating smallpox.  http://www.cgdev.org/doc/millions/MS_case_1.pdf Note: This article provides an overview of the eradication of smallpoxLinks to an external site.

 

Suarez-Lledo, V., & Galvez, J. (2021). Prevalence of health misinformation on social media: Systematic review.  Journal of Medical Internet Research,  23(1).  https://www.jmir.org/2021/1/e17187Links to an external site.

 

World Health Organization. (n.d.-a).  Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19). Retrieved April 21, 2024, from  https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1Links to an external site.

 

World Health Organization. (n.d.-b).  Poliomyelitis (polio). Retrieved April 21, 2024, from  https://www.who.int/health-topics/poliomyelitis#tab=tab_1Links to an external site.

 

World Health Organization. (n.d.-c).  Who we are. Polio Global Eradication Initiative. Retrieved April 21, 2024, from  https://polioeradication.org/who-we-are/Links to an external site.

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