Communicable Disease, Essay Example

Communicable diseases are described as contagious diseases which can be spread from one person to another and that their outbreak must be immediately reported to the relevant authority for immediate preventive, control and treatment measures. In this situation, a number of factors are in play. The biophysical factors operating in this situation include physical health status which determines the immunity and the disease susceptibility state. In this case, the individuals are susceptible to the meningitis and this is why it is able to rapidly spread. The psychological factors in operation include increased risk of exposure which comes with the high risk behaviors that contribute to the spread of the disease. In this case, the individuals are too exposed to the disease due to close contact and interaction in class. The physical environmental factors include poor sanitation and overcrowding in the dorms or classes. Such factors are the ones that led to faster spread of the disease. Socio-cultural factors in operation are congregations in groups and occupational exposure. The classes and the dormitory congregations must have led to spread of the disease. Behavioral factors include kissing and close contact. Contraction of the disease by Sally and her boyfriend is the best example. Heath system factors were the most vital and include failure to take immediate action after diagnosis and screening of the disease. The delay to take action led to elevated spread of the disease (Debolt 96).

There are several primary preventive measures that could have been employed to prevent this particular situation. First, if the physician and the nurses had reported Michaela’s meningitis on tine (instead of taking the whole two days), both Michaela and her roommate Sally would have been isolated from the rest of the members in the dorm and this could have prevented further spread.  On the same note, the authority could have ordered for an immediate medical check up so that those individuals found with the disease be isolated as early as possible; and this could have prevented further spread of the disease. In short, if the physician and the nurses had not delayed to take action, this situation could have been prevented from going this far. Another preventive measure was to keep personal hygiene such as washing hands regularly, practicing respiratory etiquette (proper sneezing and coughing procedures, stopping sharing of forks and keeping distance). This would have prevented spread of the disease among the individuals. Other measures that could have been employed include issuing of antibiotics to people who were close with the initially infected individuals. Timely issuance of antibiotics prevents contacting of the disease (Aronin 63).

However, at this state of the situation, the community health care nurses can take the following appropriate secondary and tertiary measures to help the situation. First, the community health nurses should initiate a testing exercise where all members diagnosed with the disease in the community be subjected to immediate treatment. Those who are not diagnosed with the disease should be encouraged to practice hygiene and keep distance from the infected members to avoid contracting the disease. They should be advised to stay safe and avoid close contact with other people (whether infected or not). For instance, the pregnant woman, who was one of the class members that were infected, should be subjected to immediate treatment measures by use of appropriate antiviral and antibiotics so that the baby is not affected as well. Before any treatments are given, the nurse should conduct an analysis to determine the type of meningitis in questions so that appropriate treatment procedures are put in place. Lastly, awareness campaigns can be initiated by the nurses to educate the public on symptoms of meningitis so that those experiencing the symptoms can seek treatment or medical attention earlier; other than staying and causing further spread of the disease (Pelton 14).

Works cited

Aronin, Peduzzi. “Community-acquired bacterial meningitis: risk stratification for adverse clinical outcome and effect of antibiotic timing.” Ann Intern Med, 12.9 (1998): 62-69.

Debolt, Jackson. “Evaluation of the use of mass chemoprophylaxis during a school outbreak of enzyme type 5 serogroup B meningococcal disease.” Pediatr Infect Dis J, 15.3 (2006): 92-98.

Pelton, Sett. “Meningococcal disease awareness: clinical and epidemiological factors affecting prevention and management in adolescents.” J Adolesc Health.1.1 (2010): 9-15.