Since the dawn of human civilization, diseases have always been an ordinary part of people’s lives. As the civilization develops, human beings find new ways to resist illnesses, both naturally (because the human immune system also evolves) and medically (by vaccination). The results of a long-time fight against the disorders of our organism are impressing. A considerable number of maladies, which seemed to be lethal to our ancestors, are easy to prevent nowadays. For example, due to a growing role of general vaccination, the number of measles-caused the number of deaths to decrease dramatically from more than two millions in 1980th to less than one hundred in 2010th (World Health Organization, 2015). However, the number of measles-sufferers is very high. The disease is dangerous, thus, it is important to analyze all sides of a measles outbreak in order to find out how to react if the infection occurs.
Transmission
For the measles outbreak to occur, the environment should contain some specific conditions. Firstly, the community, where a big number of people are without a vaccine is the weakest target for the measles to spread. Secondly, measles is a virus, so it transmits immediately. However, the outbreak starts from somewhere; in other words, virus originates from some sort of source. Measles outbreaks are nowadays the most common in Africa and Asia, so the virus can easily ‘migrate’.
Measles is an airborne disease, so it is very easy to spread. It can be transmitted among unvaccinated people by coughs and sneezes (in other words, through air) and by contact with infected secretions (including saliva or nasal snot). The number of people, likely to catch measles, decreases by the fact that people do not get measles twice. Therefore, the ‘targeted’ audience consists of people, whose immunity system is not adapted to resisting measles (Atkinson, 2011). The symptoms are not visually seen from the very beginning of illness, which makes the disease easy to catch, at list on the first terms. Thus, there are a couple of risk factors, which, in fact, can cause a large outbreak.
Effects
As any other disease, measles can hit the region straightly and damage all sides of its life. Measles outbreak, as it requires a lot of space, time, personnel and drugs for medication, can definitely influence the life of Forsyth County on each level.
What concerns schools and kindergartens, they are the most likely to close first, because children are the most vulnerable, as their immune systems are not formed enough. Definitely, these institutions will stop their work for a period, required for the outbreak to finish. Additionally, not all educational institutions, concerning children, have their healthcare departments qualified enough to prevent or even recognize measles on the earliest stages. When talking about other institutions, as the local government, for example, there work will barely stop (if the outbreak will not be of the really large size). However, due to the specifics of local governmental work, there will probably appear a special committee, responsible for the cure.
Nevertheless, all responsibility will be in the doctors’ hands. In terms of spreading disease, it seems to be evident that hospitals will be overcrowded (because all infected should be separated from healthy people). Not excluded, that the help from outside the county will come in order to help local doctors.
Business will also suffer. Almost all spheres, except medical, will be under the influence of thr measles outbreak. Such an outbreak threatens to decrease the number of both workers and consumers for a period of time, as infected people are not permitted to contact with anybody and healthy ones are not willing to catch measles. The medical business will definitely make some extra income, even though drugs against measles are not in free access in pharmacies. However, measles can cause some complications, from cold to pneumonia (D’Souza, 2002).
Report and prevention
If even the suggestion of measles occurs, action needs to be taken immediately. The general testing starts, results of which are to approve or to disapprove the suggestion. If the results are positive and there are infected people in the County, the official report should include all the information. Firstly, it is presented to local authorities, which coordinate the process of cure. From local authorities the report comes ‘outside’, to other counties, to the state and to the whole country. Measles outbreak is a very dangerous process, the report, containing statistics and proved data, will anyway be convincing. The key stakeholders, which are mostly the authorities, do not have rights to ignore such important information.
The most popular measure to prevent is vaccination. It takes part even when the outbreak is not likely to happen, as it excludes the possibility of such an outbreak forever (vaccine proved to be the most reliable way to avoid measles) (Bloch, Orenstein, Stetler, 1985). However, while there are unvaccinated people, the outbreak is possible. Therefore, people need to know at least basic information about measles. The best way to inform society is to organize lectures in different institutions or neighborhoods about the most important facts, such as the symptoms, ways of transmission and first required actions to be taken in case of measles.
Conclusion
Measles is a very dangerous disease, which cannot be ignored. Even though the vaccine is developed, the outbreak is possible to strike, even in Forsyth County. The results of such outbreaks are terrible; from the damage in County’s life to lethal cases. Therefore, people should anyway be ready to fight against this modern threat to society.
References
Atkinson, W. (2011). Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases. Public Health Foundation, 12: 301-323.
Bloch, A. Orenstein, A. Stetler, H. (1985). Health impact of measles vaccination in the United States. Pediatrics 76 (4): 524–32.
D’Souza, R. (2002). Vitamin A for preventing secondary infections in children with measles—a systematic review. Journal of Tropical Pediatrics 48 (2): 72–7.
The Washington Post. (2012). Highest income counties in 2011. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/local/highest-income-counties/.
United States Census Bureau. (2010). Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics. Retrieved from http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk.
World Health Organization. (2015). Measles. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs286/en/.
