Infectious and Chronic Disease

Prior to beginning work on this discussion, read Chapters 3 and 4 in the textbook, look at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) web page on
Public Health Policy (Links to an external site.), read the article
How to Write a Health Policy Brief, and watch the movie
Contagion. The full version of this movie is available for rent through Google Play, Netflix, YouTube, iTunes, and Amazon.com for $3.99 or less. This movie is about a contagious disease outbreak.

Review their posts and provide supportive evidence as to whether you agree or disagree with their assessment of the two questions they addressed. Each response must be 75 words each.

Classmate #1

Jareace Boxley

Hi class!

The possibility of an epidemic like this disease happening in today’s society is very likely. Even though the movie was released over 8 years ago, it gives us a realistic view of how such an epidemic can spread in such a short period of time. The disease had what I call (TOP) Timing, Opportunity, and Passages on its side. The timing allows for the disease to go unnoticed and become the “perfect storm”, opportunity enables it to cultivate into a health issue, and passages allow for the spread of the disease. The fictitious disease in the movie had the perfect breeding ground among the swine and was able to cultivate itself, opportunity for further growth happened when humans were exposed to the diseased animals and became infected, and passages in the movie are the numerous ways that the disease was spread through interactions and physical contact with others. The National Conference of State Legislatures lists many examples of public health efforts (2019) but “preventing disease outbreaks and the spread of infectious diseases, ensuring safe food and water in communities, and preparing for emergencies” (para.1). are the efforts that would have been used in this situation specifically.

Chronic diseases on the other hand are not designed to spread as quickly and are developed over time. Chronic diseases are issues that affect many individuals but are not usually transmitted from person to person. According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) (2019), “six in ten Americans live with at least one chronic disease, like heart disease and stroke, cancer, or diabetes” (para. 2). The grim fact of it all is that although the movie makes us stop and think about how something so inconspicuous can evolve into something so tragic, we are experiencing even higher mortality rates among those suffering from chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer just to name a few.

REFERENCES:

National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2019). Promoting a Healthy Fall, Retrieved fromhttps://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/index.htm (Links to an external site.)

National Conference of State Legislatures. (2019). State Actions to Promote Healthy Communities and Prevent Childhood Obesity, Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/public-health-and-prevention/public-health.aspx

Classmate #2

Brittany Hines

As of watching the movie, you would think it is based on a true story. It is very convincing due to the nature of the disease that spreads. The disease spread person to person and symptoms was high fever, cough, seizures. It spread from contact person to person and food. Being realistic the stuff that they are injecting in our foods, produce and the lack of safe water how likely if something like that happens. Would the CDC really investigate or still put it out on the shelf for people to buy. This movie was a real eye opener because it really gives a good example how quickly a disease can spread. How long would It take for CDC to find a cure. For example, like the flu, if you have the flu and it has not been treated it tends to spread quickly and enormously. Everyday day we are touching are hands, mouth etc. We take a huge risk daily eating meats and other foods that are put out to buy to provide for our family or ourselves. We also take a risk by the medicines they give us to cure us.

I do not believe a chronic nature could spread quickly. I say this because a chronic disease is broader and requires ongoing treatment. According to Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health Chronic disease or noncommunicable disease can not be passed from another through air, water or by physical contact. It can be prevented through vaccine or cured with and antibiotic I can use myself as an example I have slight arthritis and I see a doctor every three months and do some physical therapy. This is broader and I do see doctors ongoing to help with the pain, but it is limited verses if I had a serious chronic disease like cancer that could spread. I think it just depends on the type of chronic disease you have that plays a major part. It also plays a major part how quickly you find out what treatment you get.

Bell, N. M. and Friis, R. H. (2019). Community and public health (2nd ed.). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu

Owen, M.-J. E. (2019). Chronic disease. Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford….