Prevention and Treatment Consequences of Infectious Diseases (Essay Sample)

Prevention and Treatment Consequences of Infectious Diseases Author's Name Institutional Affiliation Prevention and Treatment Consequences of Infectious Diseases According to the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), 8 out of 10 diseases diagnosed daily are infectious although not fatal (Berger, 2012, p. III). These statistical figures are alarming for they point out to the perils that individuals are exposed to globally, especially teenagers and the youth who are at a risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Consequently, governments and health organizations alike, across the globe have stipulated stringent measures on the means of preventing or treating infectious ailments such as plague, cholera, poliomyelitis, AIDS and SARS (Chin, 2010, p. 17). With this increased awareness on infectious diseases, vaccination, consumption of boiled water, observance of general hygiene techniques and ingestion of pharmaceutical medications have become the main means of prevention and control. However, this leads to the question on the consequences of these techniques aimed at improvement of sanitation and health. The foremost consequence is the improvement of passive immunity, apart from boosting of the innate immunity possessed by victims of such maladies (Conte, 2010, p. 35). Infectious diseases, also known as communicable or transmissible diseases, are caused by infectious agents in the body. These agents may include viroids and viruses, nematodes such as pinworms, macro-parasites such as tapeworms, arthropods such as lice and microorganisms such as bacteria (Berger, 2012, p. 5). Once an individual contracts such a disease, they are treated through the administration of antibodies into the body in an attenuated state. In response, the body’s antibodies react by fighting the ailment. Consequently, the individual develops a fighting mechanism for the disease such that a recurrent attack in future is easily fought off by the person’s immune system. Such artificially acquired passive immunity may also be transferred to a fetus through the placenta in which case it becomes naturally acquired passive immunity (Conte, 2010, p. 54). This underlays the importance of vaccination for women while still young and breastfeeding. Secondly, prevention of communicable diseases translates to improvement in health and sanitation standards across the globe. According to a report by UNICEF on water supply and sanitation (2012), there has been an observed increase in the levels of sanitation and water supply globally, though still below the MDG sanitation target (as cited by Wright, 2013, p. 75). By provision of clean water for use and drinking, there has been areported decrease in the epidemiology levels of communicable diseaseas. This is supported by the strong and stringent measures that have been ratified by various states in the treatment of these diseases to ensure their complete eradication such as India and China which are both polio free nations (Berger, 2012, p. 76). The end result of this is the reduction in the number of deaths resulting from the contraction of transmissable diseases. Handicapped cases due to poliomelytis have also been on a gradual decline globally, especially in developing nations that had been previously the hardest hit. The global AIDS pandemic has claimed millions and millions of lives since the disease was first diagnosed in the USA by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) back in 1981 (Chin, 2010, p. 89). As of 2012, its causative agent, HIV, was estimated to have infected 35.3 million people on a global scale (Berger, 2012, p. 98). Though the numbers have been soaring since its first diagnosis, there has been increased awareness and sensitization on this killer disease. This has been followed by sensitization on other communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, hepatitis and menengitis which occur as opportunitistic infections (Chin, 2010, p. 99). This has gone a long way in improving global health stabdards since it is also eliciting interets and awareness of other communicable diseases which may occur as opportunitstic infections. Subsequently, there...