Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that is caused by bacteria that belongs to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Although Tb can affect other parts of the body, it mainly attacks the lungs (pulmonary) (Dye et al. 1999).What makes TB dangerous socially is that its pulmonary form is infectious and can be spread through contact of the infectious droplets. The most widespread mechanism of Tb spread is the cough. However, the infection spread requires prolonged contact with a patient and mostly the members of the same household are at risk. The issue of TB has lingered for years and continues to be a major public health problem within England, Tower Hamlets especially (Department of Health, 2010). The most reported cases of TB in the United Kingdom are in London and the more deprived boroughs around it. The rise in TB cases in the area of Tower Hamlets was seen mainly in the non-UK born residents, particularly those with origins from areas with high TB incidence like Sub-Sahara Africa, Indian Subcontinent and East Europe). Another group with high prevalence is the socially disadvantaged and included the homeless, drug users and prisoners (NHS, 2012). There are a number of factors in Tower Hamlets which contribute to a high TB prevalence. These include a high level of deprivation, social exclusion, poor housing, overcrowded living conditions and poor nutrition. Homelessness and lifestyle factors such drug addiction are also important risk factors for TB (Benerjee, 2011). This essay will pinpoint the rationale for the urban health issue, discuss and analyse the main causes within these ethnic groups, provide evidence of its determents and the implications and consequences of the urban health issue as well as analyse and o... ... middle of paper ... ...r Hamlets that makes the area conducive for TB incidence. The area has a lower life expectancy than the national average. There is a visible inequality in the life expectancy between the most and least deprived groups of the society. The area has a large base of youth and the population is growing. It has a high ethnic diversity. A high percentage of population lives on low income and unemployment is also high. Tower Hamlets also has high numbers of unpaid carers as a place to live, high number of families living in social housing and there is overcrowding. There is also a high perception of anti-social behavior (NHS, 2013). It is not hard to judge from these observations made by the NHS as to why the area is conducive to TB spread. The low income levels, social housing and over-crowdedness certainly contribute to the both the spread and quality of treatment of TB.
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Infectious Disease – The Never-ending Threat). It is acquired by inhalation and is spreadable. The City of Toronto in accordance with Toronto Public Health have in place different specialty teams in regards to Tuberculosis (TB) who work together to provide support for individuals with TB as well as their families and to help prevent the spread of TB in Toronto (City of Toronto). Specifically, Toronto Public Health has a designated homeless and corrections team who manage TB disease and infection within the homeless/under-housed and corrections populations. Within this program, they use many environmental guidelines to access and diminish in the
Signs and Symptoms of Active Tuberculosis Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT) is a slender, rod-shaped, aerobic bacillus which causes tuberculosis. Tuberculosis (TB) is an airborn infection which is transmitted via inhaling droplet nuclei circulating in the air. These droplets are expelled from the respiratory secretion of people who have active TB through coughing, sneezing, and talking (Porth, 2011). Some bacilli stay in the upper airway and are swept out by mucus-secreting goblet cells and cilia on the surface of the airway.
International Journal of Epidemiology 36.6 (2007): 1229-234. International Journal of Epidemiology. Oxford University Press, 28 Sept. 2007. Web. The Web.
breathe the same air can become infected with the TB germ. People who do work
Hepatitis B is a DNA viral infection that causes damage and inflammation to the liver. It was first discovered in 1965 by Dr. Baruch Blumberg. The HBV virus is very contagious and is even thought to be the most serious form of viral hepatitis and the most common viral infection on Earth. “HBV is 100 times more infectious than HIV.” (Green, 2002, pg. 7) The virus can survive for about one week outside the body on a dry surface. According to Green (2002, pg. 7), “One in twenty Americans has been infected with the virus at some point in their lives.” Between the ages of 15-39 is when 75% of new HBV infections occur, according to Green (2002, pg.8).
Although it has been noticed that there is a significant decrease in tuberculosis prevalence, the disease is still a major concern to public health in the United States. Poor life style can increase the risks of TB infection among poor community. Schmidt (2008) stated that TB has been linked anecdotally with environmental risk factors that go hand-in-hand with poverty: indoor air pollution, tobacco smoke, malnutrition, overcrowded living conditions, and excessive alcohol use (Schmidt,
People living in areas such as Playford, has shown to have a lower socioeconomic position, which made them at highest risk of poor health (WHO, 2017). Then, the social determinants of health support the understanding the difference between populations health levels, but also the reasons behind why some groups are healthier than others (Marmot, 2005) and the issue becomes a little bit deeper as people living in different areas related to others differently, so then the social stratification of health is affected by differences in gender, marital status, residential areas and ethnicity (Elstad,
Bacterial resistance to antibiotics has presented many problems in our society, including an increased chance of fatality due to infections that could have otherwise been treated with success. Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections, but overexposure to these drugs give the bacteria more opportunities to mutate, forming resistant strains. Through natural selection, those few mutated bacteria are able to survive treatments of antibiotics and then pass on their genes to other bacterial cells through lateral gene transfer (Zhaxybayeva, 2011). Once resistance builds in one patient, it is possible for the strain to be transmitted to others through improper hygiene and failure to isolate patients in hospitals.
Bonnefoy et al (2004) said that housing affects health in many ways which he split down into main factors, housing standards, social environment and housing
Tuberculosis is an air-borne disease, hence, it can be passed from an infected person to a healthy individual through coughing, sneezing and other salivary secretions. Tuberculosis is caused by the transfer of Mycobacteriun Tuberculosis (M. Tuberculosis) also known as Tubercle Bacillus, a small particle of 1-5 microns in diameter, due to the small size, when an infected person sneezes or coughs, about 3,000 particles are expelled. M. Tuberculosis responsible for tuberculosis is able to stay in the air for a long period of time (about 6hoursAnother way of acquiring Tuberculosis is by drinking unpasteurized milk, milk straight from cow, although this is not a common mode of transmission, it can be found in rural areas. Ingestion of contaminated cow milk transmits Mycobacterium Bovis, the animal form which is still potent enough to cause tuberculosis in humans. ). Tuberculosis transmission is affected by exposure, socioeconomic status of person, proximity, immune status of uninfected individual (%&&%&? CDC).
The actual living conditions of people directly correlate to the spread of infectious diseases and infestation of chronic illnesses that result in premature death. Crowding, such as in ghettos and low income projects, creates an unnecessary closeness of people in a community. Therefore we see an increase in the spread of infectious diseases because human to human contact is inevitable. For instance, in the US controlled Marshall Islands has a population of over 10,000 people living in an area smaller than Manhattan. Tuberculosis runs rampant there and is often times left unchecked due to the lack of personal space in conjunction with poor sanitary conditions. Poor sanitation in a region is an effect of lack of public interest in the community and subsequently aids in the demise of the health of the population.
Tuberculosis is transmitted by inhalation of aerosols containing the tubercle bacilli. The required inoculum size for infection is usually high, but easily occurs with exposure to a patient who is currently infected. The products of dried aerosols, droplet nuclei, are particularly infectious because they remain in the air for an extended time, and upon inhalation easily move to the alveoli. The severe damage related to infection is caused by the reaction of the host. The tuberculosis infection has two phases, primary and secondary.
The health of an individual and their communities is affected by several elements which combine together. Whether an individual is healthy or not, is determined by their circumstances and environment.1 To a greater extent, factors such as where an individual lives, their relationships with family and friends, the state of their environment, income, genetics and level of education all have significant impacts on health, however the more frequently considered factors such as access and use of health care facilities regularly have less of an impact.6 Determinants of health is a term which was introduced in the 1970s as part of a broader analysis of research and policy on public health. Researchers argued that there was a lot of attention and too much expenditure on health being dedicated to individuals and their illnesses, and little or no investment in populations and their health. It was decided that public health should be more concerned with social policies and social determinants than with health facilities and the outcomes of diseases.7 The determinants of health include social and economic environment, physical environment and an individual’s behaviour and characteristics. The environment of an individual determines their health, holding responsible an individual for having poor health or acknowledging them for good health is inappropriate. Individuals are not likely to be able to control several of the determinants of health. These determinants that make individuals healthy or not include the factors above, and numerous others.6
Kevin White pp: 5-8k introduction to sociology of health and illness second edition books.goole.co.uk accessed 11-04-2014
This is a community profile that aims to identify a specific health improvement issue within a local geographically determined community. ‘A community profile is an attempt to describe a particular community or neighbourhood. It uses a variety of different techniques to build up a picture of the community from a number of perspectives’ (Barnardos.org.uk, 2004) including several components of a community such as its demographic characteristics, patterns and trends i.e. its epidemiology in order to make comparisons between different localities to determine areas needful of specific health improvements with the goal of improving local people’s health and reducing health inequalities. A core definition of community as distinguished by Macqueen and Mclellan et al (2001) is ‘a group of people with diverse characteristics who are linked by social ties, share common perspectives, and engage in joint action in geographical locations or settings’.