Essay on Communicable Disease for Zika Virus - myassignmenthelp

Question: Write about theEssay on Communicable Disease for Zika Virus. Answer: Introduction Communicable disease is the one of the dangerous forms of disease that affects the life of not only the infected person but also infects the lives of the other people who are related to the infected person. It is important to note that communicable disease are feared due to their excessive ability to spread faster as compared to other forms of diseases and infect people at exponential rate. There are huge numbers of communicable diseases in different forms which have over the years affected people from all across the world and hence it is important to focus on having strong intervention strategy to mitigate the impact of communicable disease in the society. There have been significant researches on communicable disease and its impact on the society, there has also been significant research on the different forms of communicable diseases in the world especially by the World Health Organisation the health regulatory body of UNO (World Health Organization, 2016). It has been seen that emerging and re-emerging trends in the communicable disease have had significant contribution from viruses. It is important to note that viruses are major agents that create communicable disease and hence it is important for the organisation to focus on understanding the emerging communicable diseases and the various factors that contribute to the multiplication of the communicable diseases in the society. The present study will be done with reference to the Zika Virus which has been one of the menacing communicable diseases that has affected numerous lives of people all across the world. The issue of Zika Virus is not new even though its considered as one of the emerging communicable diseases (Wikan and Smith, 2016). The present essay will take into account the discussion of the intricacies related to Zika Virus like its introducing agent, the role of host and the environmental factors and the potential policy responses taken up by the Government and the World Health Organisation in order to make sure Zika is managed properly. Overview of Zika Virus For nearly seven to eight decades the Zika Virus has been considered to have lower to moderate impact on human health but with the constant growth of the impact of the virus in the recent past in major events like Olympics have suffered the issues with Zika Virus and this has again brought this issue in limelight again. Zika Virus first came into existence when it was isolated in 1947 from a febrile rhesus Macaque monkey in the Zika forest of Uganda and was later identified in Aedes africunus mosquitoes from the same forest. There have been number of cases of Zika virus in the early 1950s that brought the thing into the limelight. There has been significant research on Zika Virus since then and it has revealed that the presence of Zika Virus is widespread in Asia and Africa. The surveillance studies in human health has shown that countries like Japan, China, India in Asia have faced the wrath of Zika significantly whereas countries like Uganda, Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan from Africa has suffered issues with Zika Virus (World Health Organization, 2016). One of the major recording of mass infection by Zika have been reported in the Brazil where 1,300,000 people got infected to Zika together due to the mosquito bite in the country. This clearly created the complete global awareness in the world about this issue and started to get medical importance after the incidents in the early 1950s. Historically looking at this communicable disease it could be said that earlier there were very small number of cases recorded where people have been infected by Zika but with over the last few years Zika Virus have come into the picture for causing deaths and mass infections in different countries especially in certain Asian and African countries. Over the past decades Zika have been considered dormant but some of the cases coming up in news have put Zika Virus in the spotlight for all wrong reasons (World Health Organization, 2016). Every year the international media launches new information campaign about new diseases which becomes viral due to the presence of the different social networking sites available. In the recent past there have been number of different communicable disease which has come up in the last few years like the Ebola Virus, H1N1 Flu, Siberian Plague et cetera and along with them Zika Virus has received great attention due to the immense health damage. W.H.O has announced a new danger in the form of Zika virus. Critically analysing the Zika it could be said that this is an endemic microorganism that is mainly found in Africa and Asia in mosquitoes and are directly connected with the Dengue virus (Weaver et al., 2016). Since it is usually transmitted by mosquitoes hence it is important to have significant intervention strategies to combat this virus. It could be said that in order to make sure effective strategies are framed it is important to analyse the agents and the environmental factors w hich contributes to the growth of the virus. The first outbreak in the Yap Island in the year 2007 had created the need of getting more information about Zika which would help the WHO as well as the regional governments to develop intervention strategies to manage this issue effectively. According to the statistics the disease have already affected around 2 million people have been affected by the Zika Virus (World Health Organisation, 2016). Zika is a positive sense single stranded RNA virus in the family of Flavivirdae which includes several other mosquito borne viruses of clinical importance. Even though there are significant researches made on the subject theres no ample information about Zika and hence it becomes real tough for the doctors and the scientists even to make significant progress in the study of Zika Virus. It could be said that doctors so far have not been able to manage any kind of proper medication for Zika and treat patients mainly strong assumptions and treatment procedures related to similar diseases like Ebola and Dengue. Hence it is important to analyse Zika Virus as a dangerous communicable disease and develop intervention strategies which would help to combat future attacks of Zika virus (Wikan and Smith, 2016). Mechanism and Impact of Zika Virus The World Health organisation has been deeply concerned about the fast spreading of Zika Virus. In the recent few years this virus has become an extremely threatening issue for people and has taken number of lives that is genuinely a matter concern for the Government as well as the world health organisation. From the statistics presented by the WHO it could be said that the symptoms of this disease could be there in the human body for two or more days and in this while can cause significant physical damage and even death of the person. The symptoms identified in Zika Virus is pretty similar to dengue or Chikungunya where a person could experience high to mild fever and the body temperature exists consistently even after medication and hence special care is needed for the patient in this scenario. On the other hand skin rash, aches and pains, conjunctivitis and headaches are common symptoms with the disease. It is recommended to a person to go for a blood test in case the body tempera tures and aches remain for more than three days (Musso et al., 2014). The mechanism of Zika virus is pretty simple as it is transmitted in the body by mosquitoes the virus gets injected in the body that is in the blood which starts to act on the antibodies which is present there in the blood creating problems in the body. It is mainly spread by the Aedes mosquitoes and but there are also talks that it could also be transmitted sexually. In the recent past Australia has suffered the wrath of Zika Virus where it has been mainly found among people who are travelers and are returning from South America or Africa. Even though Australia scholars have argued that the disease has spread in Australia but there have been cases which the country should consider as important to make movements in the future regarding the health intervention for Zika (Weaver et al. 2016). It has been stated that women and children are much more vulnerable to Zika Virus in any part of the world and hence it is important that these communities are given extra care in order to protect them from physical harm and for perennial problems caused to generations. There have been contemplations about the possible effect of Zika among the kids which are thought to be present in them right from birth which means that Zika Virus might have link with birth defects and hence it can be clearly concluded that the impact of Zika Virus on the society could be substantial if its effects are not mitigated properly. It has been quoted by the Brazil Government that Microcephaly is a condition in the child brain where it stops to develop and even though there is no evidence present but the government seems to be too confident about the statement made (Mlakar et al., 2016). Virologists have argued that its spread can be stopped only with proper awareness among people and hence it becomes one of the key tools for reducing the possible impacts of Zika. Governments in different countries like Australia have taken up steps to make sure awareness is created about Zika which would help to educate people about this virus and to combat its constant spread and mitigate its effect. The virologists have also argued that excess travelling of people from corner to the other corner of the world is one of the major reasons for its spread and so Government of Australia have already taken steps to educate travelers and bagpackers which would help them to follow life pattern which would at least help to reduce the possibility of Zika virus infection in the body (Paixo et al., 2016). Overall it is important to make sure that effective intervention strategies are developed to manage this emerging health concern not only in Australia but all across the world. It cannot be d enied that every disease or carriers of the disease are bred in certain places or there are factors that contribute to the growth of such harmful viruses and hence it is important to realise the possible carriers and agents and the factors that feed Zika Virus. Role of Agent, Host and Environmental Factors in the Spread of Zika The agents, host and the environmental factors play a crucial role in the spread of Zika Virus in the society. It cannot be denied that agents and the environmental factors clearly feed and contribute to the growth Zika virus because humans dont understand the possible harm and threats while coming close to the agents and the environmental factors help the virus to build up infection on the human body. It is important to discuss the role of the agents and the host and the environmental factors for the growth of Zika Virus in order to develop a strong intervention strategy. The main agent for the spreading of the Zika Virus is the Aedes Mosquito which is a single stranded gene from the Flavivirdae family. The distribution of the virus happens through the bite of the mosquito which clearly injects the virus through the skin in the body. Hence it could be said that the transmission of the disease mainly happens due to the blood meal of the mosquito. Even though in the recent past there have been cases of existence of the virus in the breast milk of women but it has not yet have been documented. Hence in this case it could be said that the principal agent for the spread of this perilous virus. The diagnosis of most of the patients suffering from Zika has recorded information about the existence of excessive amount of mosquito in the area and hence is considered as the prime reason for the spread of Zika virus. The infection from the mosquitoes have increased in the recent past which clearly shows that apart from the agent the use of the environmental facto rs and host have been there that worsens the situation to a large extent in managing Zika Virus (Hennessey, Fischer and Staples, 2016). The Zika Virus transmission dynamics follow a complex spatiotemporal pattern which is most of the time unpredictable and is highly influenced by the manmade activities. It is important to note that most of the Zika Virus attacks have been recorded in the densely populated areas especially in Australia. It has also been seen that the exposure to outside hosts have also played a crucial role in the spread of Zika Virus. The travelers from the different regions when come to Australia tend to distribute Zika virus and this has been one of the reasons for the increase of case of Zika Virus in Australia. The human activity patterns have played a crucial role in the spread of Zika as humans tend to do a number of things which contribute to the growth of virus and bacteria. Increase of water logging in certain areas which is very common in Asia and Africa have bred Aedes mosquitoes and have also increased the number of victims of Ebola, Zika Virus et cetera. Consistent mild fever has been on e of the indications for the virus attacks that show humans need to revamp their overall lifestyle procedure (Hall-Mendelin et al., 2016). As per the study on host it has been seen that outdoor hosts are more susceptible to Zika attack which is quite easily spread in different regions among people and hence it is important for the Governments and even the local councils to analyse the populace who are outdoors for significant time period and accordingly develop certain health rules and regulations which these people should follow in order to make sure the virus attacks could be reduced and also mitigated to a large extent. The vector control measures will only be effective if the hosts which means the human community is focused on leading a good and healthy life and most importantly follow health regime and rules and definitely dont stand water logging for more than a couple of days in the neighborhood not even in the utensils or vase (Pyke et al., 2014). The environmental factors have also largely contributed to the overall growth of Zika Virus in the world. In most cases it has been seen that Aedes mosquito the agent of Zika Virus has been found in the tropical and sub tropical region since the agent cannot live in comparatively cooler regions. In areas with moisture the breeding of the agent is easier and hence the tropical and sub tropical areas stand to be effective for the mosquitoes to live and breed. It can also be said that the excessive creation of pollution by manmade activities help viruses to breed which eventually leads to virus spread in the area. If analysed thoroughly it could be said that the Uganda and Somalia have tropical climate it is close to sea and have immense pollution and waste management is not effective which sets a perfect platform for the mosquito to act on the hosts namely humans. Hence it is important to focus on reducing pollution and take proper responses which would help to mitigate the impact of Z ika Virus (World Health Organisation, 2016). Potential Policy responses Zika Virus is one of the menacing subjects in the health study all across the world. It could be extremely helpful if gone unnoticed and could impact generations after generations. It is important to note that the World Health Organisation have made number of strategies to increase awareness of Zika Virus and have made policies which would help to combat Zika. On the other hand Australian Government has also implemented policy responses to manage the outbreak of an epidemic of Zika. The Australian Government has provided number of information to travelers and common public in the country to manage the outbreak of Zika. It has also invested significant amount of money in the research and development of medical procedures to mitigate the impact of Zika and to combat its outbreak (Leung et al., 2015). The World Health Organisation in collaboration with the Ministry of Health have enhanced the surveillance policy in Zika affected areas which would help to improve the prevention and inter vention strategies, the healthcare policy of training and development have been considered importantly to cope up with the increasing impact of Zika Virus attack. The vector control policies have been amended with the help of W.H.O and regular preparation of recommendations has also been suggested to improve the intervention procedure (Hall-Mendelin et al., 2016). Conclusion Zika Virus is one of the emerging concerns in the field of healthcare and WHO and the regional government of Australia has tried to combat its outbreak in the country. It is important to note that the agent that is Aedes mosquito could be reduced in the society with the contribution from the human host by reducing pollution and manmade activities which would improve the environment neglecting the survival of the agent of Zika Virus in the society. Overall it could be said that the present study has been able to discuss the key aspects related to Zika Virus effectively. References Diallo, D., Sall, A.A., Diagne, C.T., Faye, O., Faye, O., Ba, Y., Hanley, K.A., Buenemann, M., Weaver, S.C. and Diallo, M., 2014. Zika virus emergence in mosquitoes in southeastern Senegal, 2011.PloS one,9(10), p.e109442. Fauci, A.S. and Morens, D.M., 2016. Zika virus in the Americasyet another arbovirus threat.New England Journal of Medicine,374(7), pp.601-604. Faye, O., Freire, C.C., Iamarino, A., Faye, O., de Oliveira, J.V.C., Diallo, M. and Zanotto, P.M., 2014. Molecular evolution of Zika virus during its emergence in the 20th century.PLoS neglected tropical diseases,8(1), p.e2636. Hall-Mendelin, S., Pyke, A.T., Moore, P.R., Mackay, I.M., McMahon, J.L., Ritchie, S.A., Taylor, C.T., Moore, F.A. and van den Hurk, A.F., 2016. Assessment of local mosquito species incriminates Aedes aegypti as the potential vector of Zika virus in Australia.PLoS neglected tropical diseases,10(9), p.e0004959. Hennessey, M., Fischer, M. and Staples, J.E., 2016. Zika virus spreads to new areasregion of the Americas, May 2015January 2016.American Journal of Transplantation,16(3), pp.1031-1034. Leung, G.H., Baird, R.W., Druce, J. and Anstey, N.M., 2015. Zika virus infection in Australia following a monkey bite in Indonesia.Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health,46(3), p.460. Mlakar, J., Korva, M., Tul, N., Popovi?, M., Poljak-Prijatelj, M., Mraz, J., Kolenc, M., Resman Rus, K., Vesnaver Vipotnik, T., Fabjan Voduek, V. and Vizjak, A., 2016. Zika virus associated with microcephaly.N Engl J Med,2016(374), pp.951-958. Musso, D., Nhan, T., Robin, E., Roche, C., Bierlaire, D., Zisou, K., Yan, A.S., Cao-Lormeau, V.M. and Broult, J., 2014. Potential for Zika virus transmission through blood transfusion demonstrated during an outbreak in French Polynesia, November 2013 to February 2014.Eurosurveillance,19(14), p.20761. Paixo, E.S., Barreto, F., da Glria Teixeira, M., Maria da Conceio, N.C. and Rodrigues, L.C., 2016. History, epidemiology, and clinical manifestations of Zika: a systematic review.American Journal of Public Health (ajph). Pyke, A.T., Daly, M.T., Cameron, J.N., Moore, P.R., Taylor, C.T., Hewitson, G.R., Humphreys, J.L. and Gair, R., 2014. Imported Zika virus infection from the Cook Islands into Australia, 2014.PLoS currents,6. Weaver, S.C., Costa, F., Garcia-Blanco, M.A., Ko, A.I., Ribeiro, G.S., Saade, G., Shi, P.Y. and Vasilakis, N., 2016. Zika virus: History, emergence, biology, and prospects for control.Antiviral research,130, pp.69-80. Wikan, N. and Smith, D.R., 2016. Zika virus: history of a newly emerging arbovirus.The Lancet Infectious diseases,16(7), pp.e119-e126. World Health Organization, 2016. WHO statement on the first meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005)(IHR 2005) Emergency Committee on Zika virus and observed increase in neurological disorders and neonatal malformations.Saudi medical journal,37(3), pp.332-333. World Health Organization, 2016. Zika virus research agenda.