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Heppatits B: an Epidemic

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Hepatitis B: An Epidemic
The World Health Organization defines epidemiology as “the study of the distribution and determinants of health- related states or events, and the application of the study to the control of diseases and other health problems” (CDC, 2014). Determinates of health are “the circumstances in which people are born, live, work and age as well as the systems put in place to deal with illness”. The communicable disease chain is a model beneficial to integrating the many concepts of communicable diseases (Maurer & Smith, 2009). A nurse has a significant role in preventing and controlling infectious disease. A vital factor in preparing for clinical nursing practice is having an understanding of the infection process and …show more content…

Hepatitis B causes considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide. More than 400 million people have chronic hepatitis B. In the United States alone, 38,000 people become infected every year and about two to four thousand of those individuals die from cirrhosis or liver cancer caused by hepatitis B (Lin & Kirchner, 2004). One of the world’s most common and serious infectious diseases, hepatitis b virus causes more than one million deaths in a single year! “The incidence of the hepatitis B carrier state in populations is related most importantly to the incidence and age of the primary infection” (Lin & Kirchner, 2004). In low risk areas of the world, the highest incidence of the disease is seen in teens and young adults. In endemic areas of Asia and Africa, epidemiological patterns show that most infections occur in infants and children due to maternal-neonatal transmission (Lin & Kirchner, 2004).
There are five determinants of population health that are generally recognized in the factors that contribute to the development of hepatitis B. The first determinate is biology and genetics. Men are the most susceptible to chronic infection, but both can become infected at the same rate depending on that individual’s exposure to the infection (Blumberg, 2006). One out of every three people have been infected by hepatitis B. Commonly this virus affects Asia, southeast Asia, India, parts of Africa and South America, Eastern Europe, the

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