In: Science
...Cholera Outbreak in Haiti On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck one of the most underdeveloped countries in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti. By January 24th, 52 aftershock quakes measuring 4.5 in magnitude, or greater, shook the area (Pan American). As the area literally calmed down, the Haitian government had estimated 315,000 people died, 300,000 were injured and 1 million were homeless (Pan American). As this country tries to recover from the devastation, people find themselves in poor living conditions. Most of them, even a year later, are living in tents provided by the Pan American Health Organization (the western hemisphere version of the World Health Organization) or in make shift shelters that they have been able to assemble themselves. Living conditions are harsh. Seventy one percent of families, living in these conditions, have at least one family member go without food for one day in the previous week (IJDH). Twenty one percent have no access to drinking water (IJDH). While living under these conditions, sanitation, including adequate bathroom facilities, have not been considered or given proper priority or proper thought this is more than understandable, when one is unsure where the next meal, or drink of water is coming from, an adequate bathroom facility is not of concern. Unfortunately, the area has now come to realize the need for proper sanitation and proper facilities. Cholera is caused by a gram negative bacterium called......
Words: 1150 - Pages: 5
...Cholera Outbreak in Haiti Vibrio cholerae is a bacterium that infects the intestines of humans (CDC, 2016). While there are several strains of vibrio cholerae, only two types have been known to cause cholera outbreaks and only one (type O1) is responsible for outbreaks globally (WHO, 2015). Cholera infection is an acute diarrheal disease (CDC, 2016). It is extremely virulent and can affect children and adults with equal severity if left untreated (WHO, 2015). Vibrio cholerae has a short incubation period of 2 to 5 days, an aspect of the disease that leads to severe patterns of outbreaks (WHO, 2015). 80% of individuals infected with the cholera bacterium are asymptomatic (WHO, 2015). However, the bacteria are present in infected individuals’ feces for 1-10 days and are shed back into the environment. Others are at risk for infection when they come in contact with the fecal matter of infected persons (WHO, 2015). Contaminated water is the primary transmission route for cholera (CDC, 2016). Those who do experience symptoms of cholera infection usually experience watery diarrhea, vomiting, and severe leg cramps (CDC, 2016). These symptoms, especially when they’re severe, can lead to extreme dehydration, shock, and death within hours if left untreated (CDC, 2016). Mild cholera is also easily mistaken for other diarrheal illnesses (Harris, et al., 2012). Cholera transmission is associated with a lack of social development, primarily through the disruption or total lack of......
Words: 673 - Pages: 3
...The Broad Street cholera outbreak was a severe outbreak of cholera that occurred near Broad Street in the Soho district of London, England in 1854. This outbreak is best known for the physician John Snow's study of the outbreak and his discovery that contaminated water, not air, spread cholera. This discovery came to influence public health and the construction of improved sanitation facilities beginning in the 19th century. Later, the term "focus of infection" would be used to describe places like the Broad Street pump in which conditions are good for transmission of an infection. In the mid-19th century, the Soho district of London had a serious problem with filth due to the large influx of people and a lack of proper sanitary services: the London sewer system had not reached Soho. Many cellars (basements) had cesspools underneath their floorboards. Since the cesspools were overrunning, the London government decided to dump the waste into the River Thames. That specific action contaminated the water supply, leading to a cholera outbreak. On 31 August 1854, after several other outbreaks had occurred elsewhere in the city, a major outbreak of cholera reached Soho. John Snow, the physician who eventually linked the outbreak to contaminated water, later called it "the most terrible outbreak of cholera which ever occurred in this kingdom."[1] Over the next three days, 127 people on or near Broad Street died. In the next week, three quarters of the residents had fled the area....
Words: 822 - Pages: 4
...New York’s Cholera Outbreaks of the 19th Century The nineteenth century in the United States is known for the massive amounts of immigrants coming over to start their new life. In their attempt to pursue the American dream they headed to the cities to seek work. With dense populations in the cities and poor sanitization it was common for bacterial diseases to spread throughout the city. One of the most popular and most deadly was cholera. According to WebMD.com cholera is common in places with poor sanitation, crowding, war, and famine. Cholera is spread mostly through food and water that has been contaminated with feces from a person that has been infected. Once infected a person can experience watery diarrhea accompanied with vomiting. With New York being one of the most populated areas at the time and the constant stream of immigrants coming over from Europe cholera was constantly devastating the city. The largest cholera outbreak in New York started in 1832. By July the city was in a panic; people were evacuation the city by any means necessary. Asher B. Durand said “our once bustling city now wears a most gloomy and desolate aspect one may take a walk up and down broadway and scarce meet a soul.” It was also said that if you were a doctor, undertaker of coffin maker...
Words: 877 - Pages: 4
...time, I was faced with acutely ill cholera patients requiring immediate life-saving treatment. The deadly outbreak erupted in October, and by the evening of my arrival at J/P Haitian Relief Organization housing in Port-au-Prince, more than 21,000 people were infected, with 1,250 deaths. Early the next morning, J/P HRO co-founder Sean Penn received a call from Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, of Partners in Health, who said, “If you don’t send us any of your doctors and nurses you have available, people will die.” So our team of seven (four nurses, two translators and our driver/security guard) set off on the three-hour drive along broken roads through the beautiful, rugged mountains and countryside to Hopital Ste. Therese in Hinche. I believe we were all shocked by the world we entered. Triage and short-term oral rehydration tents were staffed by Cuban and Mexican physicians and nurses, and three additional tents (men’s, women’s, children’s) and an old church served critical patients requiring IV rehydration. Each facility held up to 24 patients. The cholera treatment center was fenced off, and an attendant sprayed our shoes with a bleach solution upon entering or exiting. The church was downwind from the pit where medical waste, patients’ clothing and trash were burned. The heavy canvas tents had tarp floors that were wet from the nonstop mopping of human waste. Tree roots and old foundations underneath presented trip hazards. Cots and cholera beds were crowded inside.......
Words: 773 - Pages: 4
...Infectious Disease What is the stake of the American People and the Government by International Agencies to control Infectious Disease in Developing Countries? More people are at risk of infectious diseases than at any other time on history. Infectious diseases are worldwide problem requiring worldwide attention. Infectious diseases can weaken the strength of a nation's resources. In developing nations this poses even a greater threat. Diseases are threatening the economic stability of many developing nations. 50,000 people die everyday from infectious disease. Rift Valley Fever infects both livestock and humans. Rift Valley Fever is most commonly found in regions of eastern and southern Africa. It also exists in Madagascar and sub-Saharan Africa. The Bunyaviridae family includes the Rift Valley Fever disease. It is primarily spread from infected mosquitoes, who then infect animals. Generally they infect domestic animals, such as buffalo, cattle, sheep, camels and goats. Once the livestock are infected, other mosquitoes can spread the disease. It is also possible that the infection can be spread from other biting insects. The Rift Valley Fever outberak of 1997-1998 in eastern Africa killed both humans and livestock. It economically hurt trase in animals and the dairy indusrty.. the economy was crushed by trade imbargoes. Humans can get Rift Valley Fever in numerous ways. Humans can be infected from the mosquitoes or the bodily fluids of the infected animal...
Words: 1341 - Pages: 6
...of medical science by discovering how cholera was transmitted. It was a tough journey for him. Being a farmer’s son proved it difficult for him to convince a disbelieving medical establishment that his findings were valid. He trekked all the way to the metropolis. Little did he know that he will be the savior of this great city. His story is legendary. To date, he remains a towering figure in many fields. Psychologists have a few lessons that they can learn from him. He was born in York. A son of Yorkshire labourer who became a relative good farmer. At the age of fourteen, the youth was connected to an enlightened surgeon who was his mentor. His first encounter with cholera was when it swept through the nearby town during the 1831-1832 epidemic. It broke again in 1846, but this time round, Snow was in London. By this time, he had completed medical training. He was a well know investigator and researcher by the late 1840s since he had already published several groundbreaking studies that included research into anesthesia. From the onset, snow was a high-minded young man. As he advanced in age, he maintained his integrity. As a bachelor, he was glued to his work and in a great manner dedicated his life to scientific and humanitarian pursuits. The basis of investigations into cholera began when he started researching on Anesthesia. He had a good understanding of the operation of gases and from there, he found himself treating cases of cholera in his neighbourhood. He prepared......
Words: 1183 - Pages: 5
...Essential Components for Great Ideas Strategies for the Technical Professional Module 3 Lab 1 Mark Hicks Some of the world’s greatest ideas and accomplishments did not just appear from thin air; rather most were cultivated through years of collaboration and through multiple modifications of the original hunch or hypothesis. Group collaboration and environments that support a creative atmosphere, essential components to the process of great ideas, is seemingly the idea Steven Johnson is trying to drive home in his video, “Where Good Ideas Come From”. Steven Johnson was trying to express or convey the message that great ideas come from a particular place setting or environment of specific stimuli that allow two or more people, with similar interests, to come together and further collaborate on one or more ideas and expand on an idea or hunch. His given example of said environment was the beginning of coffee shops. Coffee shops started springing into existence in the 1650’s after people were trying to figure out what else they could drink besides alcohol due to water typically being tainted. The population was used to consuming a depressant, alcohol, all day and then coffee shops started popping up and the population started drinking a stimulant, coffee, all day. In response to the change Steve Johnson accredits coffee shops with the beginning of great ideas. In essence people would gather at the coffee shops and drink and socialize all day so many great ideas......
Words: 871 - Pages: 4
...John Snow is considered the father of modern epidemiology, because of his determination to find the source of the cholera outbreak in the SOHO District. What made Snow’s work different from others was that he established the methods to epidemiologic reasoning. This reasoning included suspicion (factors that may influence occurrence of disease), formulation of specific hypothesis, conducting studies, assess validity of association and make judgements as to whether a cause- effect relation between factor and condition exists. One of the main reasons why Snow will continue to receive recognition is because these steps of reasoning he took and “the so-called no- miracle argument in philosophy of science, according to which the success of science would be a miracle,...
Words: 594 - Pages: 3
...Cholera * A Passage from India: Cholera * Cholera * Infection of the small intestine that causes a large amount of watery diarrhea * Vomiting * Related to bile * Learned Questions * Nature of the microbe causing cholera * Identifying the name of the causative agent * Origin of the disease * History of discovery of the agent * Pandemics of the disease * Impact f the disease on society * Origin and Spread * Endemic to the Indian subcontinent, with the Ganges River likely serving as a containment reservoir * Disease spread by trade routes (land and sea) to Russia, then to Western Europe, and from Europe to North America * Causes of Cholera * Mortality rate of 50% * The Miasma Theory * Strongly advocated by Max von Petterkofer * Mapped the 1850 epidemic and concluded cases were clustered in low-lying marshlands * Was the impetus behind Florence Nightingale effort to clean, improve, and establish higher standards in nursing * The Poison Theory * Advocated by John Snow * While attending to Cholera patients he didn’t get the disease, therefore it is not airborne miasma * Affect the gut first * Mapped the 1850 outbreak and found clusters of victims around the Broad Street Pump * Proposed cholera is due to toxin in patient feces and transmitted by water * The......
Words: 385 - Pages: 2
...8 Cholera Caused by Vibrio cholerae Cholera is an acute, diarrheal illness caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium vibrio cholera. The infection is often mild or without symptoms, but can sometimes be severe. Approximately 1-10 infected persons will have severe disease characterized by profuse watery diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. In these people, rapid loss of body fluids leads to dehydration and shock. Without treatment, death can occur within hours. Cholera is yellow in color. The bacteria causes’ disease when a person drinks water or eats food contaminated with the cholera bacterium. In an epidemic, the source of the contamination is usually the feces of an infected person that contaminates water and/or food. The disease can spread rapidly in areas with inadequate treatment of sewage and drinking water. The disease is not likely to spread directly from one person to another; therefore, casual contact with an infected person is not a risk for becoming ill. Five Facts about Cholera There are an estimated 3-5 million cholera case and 100 000-120 000 deaths due to cholera every year. Up to 80% of cases can be successfully treated with oral rehydration salts. Effective control measures rely on prevention, preparedness and response. Provision of safe water and sanitation is critical in reducing the impact of cholera and other waterborne diseases. Oral cholera vaccines are considered an additional means to control cholera, but......
Words: 485 - Pages: 2
...Some people have trouble understanding the complete scope of the discipline of geography because, unlike most other disciplines, geography is not defined by one particular topic. Instead, geography is concerned with many different topics—people, culture, politics, settlements, plants, landforms, and much more. What distinguishes geography is that it approaches the study of diverse topics in a particular way (that is, from a particular perspective). Geography asks spatial questions—how and why things are distributed or arranged in particular ways on Earth’s surface. It looks at these different distributions and arrangements at many different scales. It also asks questions about how the interaction of different human and natural activities on Earth’s surface shape the characteristics of the world in which we live. Geography seeks to understand where things are found and why they are present in those places; how things that are located in the same or distant places influence one another over time; and why places and the people who live in them develop and change in particular ways. Raising these questions is at the heart of the “geographic perspective.” Exploration has long been an important part of geography. But exploration no longer simply means going to places that have not been visited before. It means documenting and trying to explain the variations that exist across the surface of Earth, as well as figuring out what those variations mean for the future. The...
Words: 576 - Pages: 3
...Education of Peer Education 08/16/2015 How things might would have been different if more of the donor aid money had actually been paid and invested in Haiti’s infrastructure—perhaps even employing Haitian businesses to do the work? Where would you have liked to see that money invested within Haiti: education, medical facilities, roads, encouraging Haitian-owned businesses, or international businesses that pay a living wage? On January 2010 Port-au-Prince was leveled by an earthquake, which claimed as many as 316,000 lives and destroyed many houses, hotels and hospitals. Days after the tragedy, good will flowed: private American citizens donated $1.4 billion, and the world spent $5.2 billion on relief efforts. In addition, tens of thousands of military personnel and volunteers arrived from around the globe to help in the recovery, however, those moneys and help arrived in the wrong hands nothing was done to help the people recover from this crisis. However, if more of the donor aid money had actually been paid and invested in Haiti’s infrastructure or if the government would have employed Haitians business to do the work, there won’t have been more homeless people living on the street in tents because they would have invested on building more houses or apartment for the citizens who have lost everything due to the earth quake; since most people aren’t able to pay their wages. Most of the hospitals that were destroyed would have been rebuilt if not to perfection but, at...
Words: 1017 - Pages: 5
...Cholera What is Cholera? • Cholera is a serious bacterial disease that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio Cholerae. • When the bacterium Vibrio Cholerae is in the mucosal epithelium, it produces cholera toxin, which causes massive diarrhea. How is Cholera caused? • Cholera is primarily caused by contaminated water supplies, but it can also be caused by consuming raw shellfish, uncooked fruits and vegetables, and other foods that can harbor the Vibrio Cholerae Bacterium. • Vibrio Cholerae is found naturally in costal waters, and they attach to crustaceans called copepods, and spread to other places. • The bacteria can get into a human, who may not get sick from it, but they can pass it off to another person through their stool, through a method called the fecal-oral route, which occurs when the stool contaminates food and water supplies. The Symptoms • Severe, watery diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps, dehydration, and hypovolemic shock are all symptoms of Cholera. Risk-Factors • People with malnutrition and a compromised immune system are most vulnerable to this disease. Treatment • Treatment should be gotten immediately, because extreme dehydration can become serious and lead to death very fast. • Oral Dehydration Salts, or ORS, is a re-hydration solution issued by the World Health Organization to re-hydrate patients of Cholera. • Also an antibiotic, called azithromycin can cut the symptoms of Cholera in half. Prevention • Cholera can be prevented......
Words: 290 - Pages: 2
...Peter McGovern British Literature Miriam Kroeker March 19, 2010 Soho Paper Soho has changed much throughout time from the Victorian time to modern days. It has had its problems such a cholera or racial issues, as well as social reform in the founding of its police force and the founding for China Town in 1985 by the Duke of Gloucester. It has also maintained a rich tradition in dining and drinking which has acquired its own rich history along the way. During the reign of Queen Victoria the population of England doubled due to Industrial Revolution witch also put new pressures on her society. This caused the crime rate to increase. Seeing the need to reform the police force of England, the Home Secretary Robert Pell developed what was a crude but partially effective police force. He formed ‘The Metropolitan Police Force’, and two men he put in charge of the force of 1000 men, were Charles Rown and Richard Mayne. All London’s police were the responsibility of one authority, under the direction of the Home Secretary, with headquarters at Scotland Yard. At the time their duty was not only crime prevention but inherited many of the watchmen’s duties, consisting of lighting lamps, calling out time, watching for fires, and providing other public services. “Bobbies or Peelers were not immediately popular. Most citizens viewed constables as an infringement on English social and political life, and people often jeered the police”(McDonnell). In much......
Words: 1301 - Pages: 6
