Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease that is caused by a herpesvirus called varicella-zoster virus (7). Chickenpox is one of the most easily transmitted of contagious diseases (5). Ninety to ninety-five percent of the people exposed to the virus will develop it within twenty-one days (5). The term chickenpox came from chickpea, which is a member of the bean family and resembles the look of the swollen pox, or from the Old English gican, meaning “to itch” (7).
Before chickenpox was classified as a disease it was confused with other similar diseases such as smallpox, measles, German measles, and scarlet fever. They all had a typical rash, and they were known as acute exanthems or “a disease characterized by an eruption or rash, from the Latin and Greek word exanthema, meaning ‘to break out,’ or, originally, ‘to bloom.’” Many people were misdiagnosed due to the similarities between these diseases, and the fact that they can occur in milder or more sever forms leading to an overlap of the most obvious symptoms. (7)
Chickenpox mostly occurs in children classifying it as a childhood disease although it can occur in adults who are not yet immune to it. This could lead to the belief of chickenpox being one of the oldest diseases. Since the chickenpox infection has two phases, one most common during childhood then a latent form that can become active again later in the persons life, doctors believe that this reactivation would start the cycle all over again. If everyone in the first cycle got the germ then became immune a whole new generation would be born by the time the virus “reawakened” to become infectious in the new generation. This causes the suspicion of chickenpox being one of the oldest diseases. (7)
Chickenpox can infect everyone and anyone throughout the world (7). More than three million Americans mostly children between the ages of two and eight are affected every year (3). The virus is known for being mild, but if an adult or a child with a weak immune system catches it it could become serious (3). “It kills between fifty and a hundred people every year.” (3) Almost 10,000 people are hospitalized each year for complications with the disease (4). The complications range from serious, which can include secondary skin infections, to fatal such as Reye syndrome (4).
This common disease is highly contagious and easily transmitted through the air by s...
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...erson who has not got chickenpox can contract it from anyone who has shingles. Shingles is most common among people over fifty, although anyone can get it. (7)
Chickenpox is a relatively mild disease. It is very common among children, and is part of almost anyone’s childhood. Chickenpox is not considered a deadly disease, which is good, although some may die from it. Chickenpox is nothing to worry about in most cases and should be considered a holiday from school or work.
Works Cited
1. Carpi, John. “A Pox on the Pox.” Scientific American 273: 10 (1995):
32-32D.
2. “Don’t Play Chicken.” Prevention 49: 9 (1997): 137
3. Kemper, M.D., M.P.H. Kathi J. The Holistic Pediatrician. New York, New
York: HarperPerennial, 1996.
4. Kump, Derma. “Childhood without Chicken Pox?” Parents 71: 4 (1996):
39-40.
5. Markel, Howard, and Frank A. Oski. The Practical Pediatrician. New York,
New York: W.K. Freeman and Company, 1996.
6. Prevention Magazine Health Books, ed. Keeping Kids Healthy. Emmaus,
Pennsylvania: Rodale Press Inc., 1995
7. Silverstein, Alvin, Virginia Silverstein, and Laura Silverstein Nunn.
Chickenpox and Shingles. Springfield, New Jersey: Enslow
Publishers, Inc., 1998.
Typhoid fever is a systemic infection caused by the gram-negative organism Salmonella typhi. It is transmitted through fecal-oral or urine-oral route by either direct or indirect contact of the carrier’s or infected individual’s feces or urine. Humans are the only source of this organism. Ingestion of
In 1994, a stable in Hendra, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia broke out with an unknown respiratory disease that resulted in thirteen horses and one horse trainer severely ill, resulting in death. [7, 8] This disease was isolated by scientists and later classified as the Hendra virus. The Hendra virus (HeV), previously unknown, is now classified under the family Paramyxoviridae, genus Henipavirus along with its sister viruses the Nipah Virus and Cedar virus.[7, 9] HeV has the capability of causing fatal diseases in several animal species including humans.[1] The primary host of the Hendra virus was identified as the flying fox species from the genus Pteropus[1,2,3] that resides and migrates through Northeastern Australia[8] or more specifically, the East coast of Australia to Melbourne and west across Northern Australia to Darwin[7].
Shingles, herpes zoster, is a very contagious and painful rash, or blister that appears on the skin. These rashes most commonly appear on the sides of the body in stripes. The stripes are made up of many very painful blisters caused by a certain type of virus. The varicella zoster, most commonly known as the chicken pox virus attacks the nerve roots in that area. The herpes zoster virus is in the herpes family, including HSV, herpes simple virus, which causes cold sores, fever blisters, and genital herpes. (WebMD, 2011) Most people are required to get the chicken pox shot when they are children although some do not. The chicken pox shot helps to keep out the virus by keeping it dormant in the nerves. The varicella zoster virus stays in a few cells; this is how shingles appear suddenly. It appears when the dormant cells become active in the later years of life.
It has not taken human to human transmission yet, that we know of. So far all cases of the virus result from people coming into close contact with bird blood or droppings. If the transmission of the virus does take human to human form, it could unleash a global pandemic. This is the first time in history that humans have been able to prepare themselves for an epidemic. The bird flu virus travels with migrating birds.
There is no vaccine to protect against it and, in the most severe cases, no cure. The population of Phoenix has grown by ten per cent in the past deca...
There are factors that can put people at risk for contracting this disease, for example, exposure to endemic areas such as India, Egypt, Brazil, and Angola. Although this disease is communicable, it is not highly contagious. Constant contact with the untreated may result in transmission of the disease through inhaled respiratory secretion or droplets entering an abrasion on the skin. However, droplets cannot infect the intact skin. Individuals living with the untreated are 8X more likely to develop the disease. Another risk factor may be the improper handling of wild life without safety gloves. Certain primates and 9-Banned armadillos are possible carriers of this disease, making animal to human transmission a probability. Furthermore, Mycobacterium leprae can survive in moist soil for one to two weeks.
McMillan, Julia A., Ralph D. Feigin, Catherine DeAngelis, and M. Douglas Jones. Oski's Pediatrics, Principles & Practice. Williams & Wilkins, 2006.
Recent research shows that, there are three major means by which infections can be transmitted and they include direct transmission, indirect transmission and airborne transmission (Hinman,Wasserheit and Kamb,1995). Direct transmission occurs when the physical contact between an infected person and s susceptible person takes place (division of public health, 2011). An example is a health care worker who attends to an Ebola patient, without gloves, gown and mask plus forget to wash his or her hand with soap and hot water and or a person having flu without the use of mask or washes his hand after sneezing easily passes the infection to the other through hand shake or surface touch, living the bacteria there for another vulnerable person to also touch if the surface is not disinfected with bleach. Studies makes it clear that, the spreads takes effect when disease-causing microorganisms pass from the infected person to the healthy person through direct physical contact such as touching of blood, body fluids, contact with oral secretion, bites kissing, contact with body lesions and even sexual contact. However, measles and chicken pox are said to be conditions spread by direct
Sorte, J., Daeschel, I., Amador, C. (2011). Nutrition, Health, and Safety for Young Children. (Ashford University ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Family: Immunizations for Children. Immunizations for Children, 26 Nov. 2012. Web. The Web. The Web.
From as early as we know epidemics and plagues have drastically affected mankind all over the world. With no regard to race, creed, religion, gender, social class or economic status, they have ravaged and devastated the human race across all continents. Small Pox, one these voracious and merciless diseases, has had its hand in this devastation. The highly contagious disease is responsible for the death of hundreds of millions of people over thousands of years with three hundred million of those deaths, coming from the 20th century alone (Carrell, 2004).
KUMAMOTO JAPAN: Two Japanese chicken farms had to put down 112,000 chickens because of a new outbreak of bird flu. While there hasn’t been any transmission between birds and humans in Japan ever, the Avian Influenza Type A virus is still being handled with significant care to avoid any possibility of human harm. A Japanese Food Safety Commission publishing noted that avian flu was quickly broken down by stomach acid so there wouldn’t be foreseeable harm to any people if they ingested some of the contaminated chicken or their eggs. As a further precaution, authorities are banning the transportation of chickens and eggs within the affected areas. Additionally, vehicles are being inspected and disinfected near the chicken farms. These restrictions are posing financial problems for the farm owners who rely on steady sales to keep operating—the trade embargo and loss of a significant amount of livestock can be troublesome.
Iannelli, Vincent. The “Interview with a Pediatrician.” About.com. Pediatrics. September 30, 2012.
Avian Influenza is also known as the bird flu. The deadly form was first discovered in Italy in 1878. It is a Type A virus that occurs among wild aquatic birds and can infest domestic poultry and other birds and animal species. Although the virus does not normally infect human beings, there have been rare cases where humans have been infected with the virus. The disease is spread by contact with an infected bird’s feces, or secretion from its nose, mouth, or eyes. (Commission)