On average an american will spend 9 years of their life watching television; what if this time could be used in the furtherance of disease prevention. Research shows that there are links between climate change and the spread of infectious diseases, yet current political leaders deny the actual existence of climate change. With this disregard for science, it's up to american citizens to understand and acknowledge the effects climate change in regards to infectious diseases themselves. In order to generate public interest in the relationship between climate change and the spread of infectious diseases, we propose creating a docudrama series that follows people affected by climate sensitive diseases
The premise of the television show will
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Specifically, an individual named Kurt Simmons will travel to a country where the disease is common like Madagascar. While Kurt is enjoying his time in Madagascar he is exposed to measles when he is tutoring a child in a nearby school. The child coughs multiple times in Kurt’s direction exposing him to the disease. Kurt assumes the child has a common cold and doesn’t think much of it. When Kurt’s journey comes to a close he returns home and starts to develop a fever. He doesn’t think much of it since he assumes it was his body exhausted from travel. Throughout this time Kurt invites multiple people to his house exposing them the disease. Kurt then develops white spots inside his cheeks, rashes around his body diarrhea and other symptoms of the disease. He then goes to the doctor and gets diagnosed with measles. With further investigations it is found out Kurt has spread the disease to multiple individuals in his community. Dispersed throughout the narrative will be the critical information about the disease given from experts. For the measles episode, specialist Dr.Katz with the American Academy Pediatrics would illustrate that, “Before we had a measles vaccine, an estimated 500,000 cases of measles were reported each year. Along with the fact that in 1998, there were only 89 cases of measles in the United States with no measles-associated deaths.” Statistics like these will be able to reach an audience and inform
The book chosen was “The New Killer Diseases”, because it seemed to be interesting and covered a great deal of information that was learned in class. The book discusses how we should fear the unknown when it comes to fighting the new killer diseases that could evolve and spread at any moment. It is scary to think at any moment that a new disease could develop causing an epidemic. The examples of stories of patients that were discussed made the book more interesting and easier to understand the concepts of the new diseases. The scientific research throughout the book gives readers a clear understanding how germs threaten all of mankind. We need to protect ourselves, families, and encourage the public to stay up to
Identify a broad range of current environmental health problems likely to be exacerbated by climate change. How might existing public health practices be altered to anticipate these effects of climate change? What other key sectors (beyond health) should be engaged?
Tie to the audience: Your family could be affected by climate change in less then 50 years.
On the pro-vaccination site entitled, Why Vaccinate, they detail a situation that is a true story depicting a breakout of measles in Minnesota. In 2011, an unvaccinated toddler traveled to Kenya for a family vacation. Upon their arrival home the child now, unknowingly infected with the measles virus, not only infects another adult family member, but also attends a day care shortly after returning home. One day after attending the day care the child broke out into a rash and had unknowingly infected 3 more children at her daycare, these children went home and 2 more adults became infected. The adult family member that was infected spread the virus to 2 emergency medical professionals; the medical professionals would respond to a call at a homeless shelter later and infect 4 of its member. Three more cases would pop up in the area with uncertainty of how they contracted the virus. It only took one child to infect 23 people and put 14 children in the hospital, this could have all been avoided had the child been given the proper vaccination (Pastuer, 2013).
Currently, one of the major problems in the world is the rapid change of our climate. Years of research and studies have linked climate change to the spreading and occurrence of many infectious diseases. Vectors and pathogens that were not able to spread to certain countries before because temperatures were too low for them to survive in are now being able to habituate these parts of the world because of how much warmer our planet is becoming. This is concerning to us because infectious diseases can increase death rates. Therefore, if our planet continues to get warmer, the more infectious diseases will spread, and the more humans will die. This research paper attempts to provide a better understanding on how diseases are spreading more
Throughout the world of modern science, the human race is faced with a broad range of problems that require strong, valid solutions. This concept is apparent then in The New Yorker’s, “The Deadliest Virus” and in Popular Science’s, “Out of the wild”. While both pieces of work address the topic of the worldwide spreading of dangerous viruses in today’s society, each brings up individual arguments explaining scientific research completed behind such viruses and what role such research should play in delivering such information to the public. These works also give informative, detailed observations and data which provides the reader an opportunity to create his own opinion on such important current events. These findings are provided which gives a form of validity to each claim made in these two pieces of work, however bias and a lack of testable, reproducible data create holes that leave the reader 's imagination and personal morals to determine their own point of view.
According to the World Health Organization, a 2008 study showed that in the last 100 years, the world has warmed by approximately 0.75oC (Cruickshank 354). This warming has been and is a major factor that has contributed to the increase of destructive weather events. Such could be true in the case of the deadly typhoon that struck the Philippines in November of 2013. These weather events, in turn, contribute to the fact that infectious disease is the cause of approximately 37 percent of all the deaths in the world. This statistic is only expected to increase as a result of global warming. Additionally, over 40% of the citizens of developing countries and less than 2% of the citizens of developed countries are infected at any given time (Chan et al. 330). This is a staggering inequality, and it is undeserved that many of the countries that are being the most affected did little to contribute to the cause of global warming. This is why developing countries were specifically chosen to be looked into opposed to the entire earth population. Now, that some context has been given, more specific examples and studies can be looked into.
A measles outbreak occurred in a small Somali community in Minnesota over the past week. Misinformation about the topic of vaccination is a huge reason behind the sudden plague. The somalis’ fear that their children will have autism due to autism cases in the Minneapolis area in 2008. Vaccination rates have decreased in the area from 92 percent to 42 percent. A mother of three, all of whom are unvaccinated, is unable to send her children to daycare in order to insure the other kids do not contract measles “protecting the herd.” The Minnesota Department of Health is now having to consult the families in order to reconfirm their doubts of vaccinating their children. The same case is occurring across our river in Italy, the country just reported an epidemic of measles numbers which have increased since the
Climate change. A phrase that encompasses a vast wealth of information, the totality of which is difficult to fathom let alone concisely elaborate upon in a condensed format such as a course or writing assignment. Through this course, the interconnectedness with which humans influence the balance of climate change is abundantly clear. Ecosystems plants and animals depend on are all connected and influencing one another but these scales are imbalanced, mostly as a result of human activities. The web of interconnectivity in climate change is complex, but there is a reemerging consensus at it’s core that human actions, such as global development, has major ramifications and the health and welfare of people and the environment are paying the price. Those daring enough to say they aren’t influencing climate change haven’t truly examined the many facets of their lives consuming energy and in turn increasing carbon emissions that alter climate. For most, transportation is a necessity. This usage requires energy consumption, most likely in the form of fossil fuel resource depletion and in turn the generation of carbon emissions. Transportation routes by land or sea may alter ecosystems that further elevate carbon emissions. With an understanding that the topic of climate change and carbon emissions is massive at best, the aim of this assignment will be to provide the reader with a basic understanding of greenhouse gases and carbon emissions and the relation to climate change. A
In the infectious disease unit, the main focal point consisted of showing the audience how the spread of a major virus may occur in population. In this case, we were presented with two movies: Contagion and 28 Days Later. These movies both displayed an infectious disease, which is spread through animals causing harm to people. A scenario that presented in Contagion seemed to be realistic possibility because a simple transmission of disease from an animal can happen. If the virus is unknown and no vaccine is available, it could certainly cause a lot of harm to a large population of people. Likewise, another possibility was also presented in 28 Days Later, where the viewers see scientist talking about monkey being infected with a virus.
Climate change has been a subject of discussion in the media for many years, supported with the use of arguments against oil polluting the environment and extreme scare tactics of Polar ice caps flooding civilians backyards. The issue has been ignored by the majority of lay people as seeming too complicated, and with all the conflicting information in the media in the past, who can blame them? However, scientifically, climate change and what perpetrates it is fairly simple to understand and society as a whole is beginning to come to a clear consensus on climate change. Thanks in part to more readily available forms of media and information, people have become cognizant of the fact that climate change is a legitimate problem which requires immediate amelioration. While this may seem melodramatic, society is realizing that climate change is an issue which can no longer be denied if the human race wishes to continue.
Now, many once-forgotten diseases are reappearing. TIME Magazine reported that “In 2014, the U.S. experienced a major outbreak of measles that totaled 383 cases and was primarily spreading among an unvaccinated Amish community in Ohio.” (Measles Outbreak) The number of cases of these diseases is going up when it can be easily prevented. Worldwide, “Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available.” (World Health
Global Warming has been a big issue in today’s world, but how can global warming affect biological systems. Climate Change could impact biological systems by rising sea levels, rising temperatures, more droughts, and to more deadly weather. Even today we can see what is happening to certain parts of the planet that are being effect by Climate Change. Could Global Warming be stopped so that these drastic changes to our planet won’t happen?
Cancer: Many potential direct effects of climate change on cancer risk, such as increased duration and intensity of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, are well understood; however, the potential impact of changes in climate on exposure pathways for chemicals and toxins requires further study. Science should investigate the effects of mitigation and adaptation measures on cancer incidence so that the best strategies can be developed and implemented; for example, research to inform understanding of the benefits of alternative fuels, new battery and voltaic cells, and other technologies, as well as any potential adverse risks from exposure to their components and wastes. Better understanding of climate change impacts on the capacity of ocean and coastal
There is a serious situation is occurring on planet Earth that is causing a significant and harmful effect on communities, health, and the climate. It is Global Warming which can be defined as the constant heating of Earth 's surface, oceans and atmosphere. In order to understand global warming, the most important basic is to figure out how the of greenhouse effect plays an important part in its development. The greenhouse effect is caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) that trap heat in the atmosphere that keeps the Earth warm. The information this text will discuss is the meaning of global warming, the causes, and most importantly how citizens can help to rectify the situation. Humanity must tickle this problem immediately before the consequences increase and affect the entire planet.