Disease in the News
HCS 245
March 26, 2014
Dr. Tobey Tam
Disease in the News
There are many diseases that we hear or read about around the world that on a daily basis. Whether the disease is small or big, it will be in the news for people to hear about it. Listening or reading about a disease will give people an insight of the disease and ways to prevent getting infected. We constantly hear or read about food being recalled because of salmonella. There are many organizations for information that we can found out about an outbreak or a disease such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Alzheimer’s disease, or even international organizations such as the World Health Organization. One of the diseases that is out and we have access to hearing about is from the World Health Organization about confirmed reports on polio. Polio is a very serious disease that the CDC confirmed (Global Health – Polio, 2014) that it “led to the eradication of polio in the U.S. by 1979” (para. 2). “Polio is a crippling and potentially deadly infectious disease caused by a virus that spreads from person to person invading the brain and spinal cord and causing paralysis.” Global Health - Polio. (2014) (para.1) Learning about the polio outbreak news from the WHO organization as well as the claims and perspectives about the treatment of the disease.
An article posted on the World Health Organization (WHO) website mentions there has been confirmed polio outbreaks happening in the Middle East. Reports on March 20, 2014 show that there have been 37 outbreaks in the Syrian Arab Republic (Polio Outbreak in the Middle East - update, 2014). Iraq has first reported polio like symptoms in 2000, but in October 2013, reports about a confirmed case of a polio outbreak occurred from a six month old boy who had not been vaccinated. The organization had the six month old seperated from his other sibling, so there will be no contact with the sibling who is infected. Since the first confirmed case of polio, campaign has started in the Middle East for the immunization of polio. There have been two phases of immunization campaigns in the Middle East to get immunized. The first phase of the campaign had results to cover over 22 million children all across the area to be vaccinated. The next phase of immunization for the county is supposed to start in April 2014. (Polio Outbreak in the Middle East - update, 2014).
This article makes some claims about the treatment of the disease. The WHO and UNICEF organizations are conducting immunizations around the country to be vaccinated especially in children. The first phase of immunizations happened in October 2013. Then the next round of immunizations will happen in April 2014, and then another phase is supposed to happen in May (Polio Outbreak in the Middle East - update, 2014).