Some communicable diseases can easily spread through a community with no correct health and prevention care. Community health nurses can help prevent this from occurring by researching as well as analyzing information and always keeping the community educated. One of those communicable illnesses is chickenpox, the extremely contagious nature of which can impact different groups of individuals and rapidly disperse throughout the community. This particular paper details the dynamics of chickenpox and the development of its in the epidemiologic triangle explores the roles of the community wellness nurse as well as national companies in awareness, treatment, and the prevention of chickenpox in society.
Disease Description
Chickenpox, normally referred to as varicella, is a communicable illness brought on by the varicella-zoster virus (Centers for Prevention and Disease Control, 2017). It’s most particularly recognized by the itchy rashes, which next become fluid-filled blisters that look initially on the belly, chest, or maybe face after which spread to the other parts of the entire body. Some other symptoms can include fever, headache, nausea, malaise, loss of appetite, and exhaustion. These signs generally appear before the rashes, which show up after a single or maybe 2 days of illness. Following 6 to 10 days, blisters become scabs and begin falling off. This particular condition is very infectious, as it spreads by indirect and direct means of transmission via touching or maybe breathing in the virus, and that is found in the blisters’ liquid or perhaps sneezes and coughs of an infected person. The portal of entry for chickenpox is the respiratory system. Affected individuals stay contagious throughout the improvement of the illness until the development of scabs.
Although many instances of chickenpox aren’t severe, several people may encounter a selection of complications. You will find groups of individuals who are at a greater risk for complications compared to others. Adults and infants, women that are pregnant, and individuals with a weakened immune system, like individuals on different people and medications with HIV, AIDS, or even cancer are included by these groups. Complications can vary from mild to severe. Swelling, encephalitis, bacterial skin infections and pneumonia is included in such complications. Based on Chowdhury et al. (2014), several people might come across quite severe problems, and they must be addressed by a doctor. For instance, a young adult taken over by chickenpox created a urinary tract infection, encephalitis, septicemia, along disseminated intravascular coagulation (Chowdhury et al., 2014). One other study by Amalnath, Surendran, Subrahmanyam, Thammishetti and Karthikeyan (2016) suggests that people with chickenpox can experience significant neurological problems, like cerebellitis, cortical venous thrombosis, along with arterial stroke. women that are Pregnant, that are infected with chickenpox, might also impact the unborn kid, which may lead to it being created with congenital varicella syndrome as well as limb abnormalities.
The main method of offering chickenpox is vaccination. It prevents most individuals from becoming infected. Vaccinated individuals that get infected do not normally create a serious case of chickenpox. In case an individual doesn’t show some signs of problems, the disorder could be addressed from home following an appointment with a wellness expert. Many ways of antiviral drugs are included by treatment, symptom-relieving balms, and lotions, to prevent skin infections that can occur from scratching blisters, a common reaction. However, since chickenpox is most commonly seen in young children, the use of common medications to relieve symptoms should be done with the care and consultation of a medical professional. For example, it is not recommended to use aspirin or ibuprofen with children due to potential complications and associations with more serious diseases. Non-aspiring medications are recommended to relieve fever (Centers for Prevention and Disease Control, 2017). In a situation of complications, infected people must get professional medical treatment. Based on the National Center for Prevalence, mortality, morbidity, the incidence, and Health Statistics of this disease are continually declining because of vaccination (Centers for Prevention and Disease Control, 2017).
Health Determinants
The determinants of health are elements that affect the individual’s well-being. Social status is included by them, behavior, genetics, individual characteristics, physical environment, education, economic environment, and behaviors of an individual. Every one of these elements can influence the improvement of chickenpox. For instance, the physical setting of a person with unsafe water or even contaminated air and a bad workplace can lead to a quicker spread of the illness. Simply because chickenpox is extremely infectious, the surroundings of infected and healthy individuals play a tremendous role in the disease’s advancement. Poorer factors as well as the failure to get vaccinated lead to quick contamination. Additionally, if people that have complications can’t get appropriate treatment in the clinic, they’re far more apt not only to spread the illness but additionally to endure much more adverse results. Personal behavior and habits additionally impact the all-around health of individuals. For instance, proper hygiene is essential for both uninfected and infected persons.
One of the key determinants of health for at-risk populations for chickenpox is access to immunizations. The chickenpox immunization known as the varicella vaccine is typically given to children at the age of 12-15 months with booster shots for further protection at the age of 4-6. It is required or highly recommended in most jurisdictions of the United States and developed countries as the vaccine is effective. However, with the rise of the anti-vaccination movement and discrepancies in health care, the immunization rates may decline. It is vital to ensure critical access to the varicella vaccine to all populations, regardless of socio-economic status, race, or other factors which may impact access (Tafuri, Guerra, Cappelli, Martinelli, Prato, & Germinario, 2014). Determination of health through vaccination is vital to maintaining a healthy population and herd immunity in the long term for such a contagious disease.
Epidemiologic Triangle
The epidemiologic triangle is a three-corner model which shows the procedure of disease spreading. An agent, an environment, and a host are included in this model. It was developed by scientists to categorize and analyze public health problems and infectious diseases to understand how they are spread, and it is supported by the CDC. Chickenpox is a good example to analyze using the epidemiologic triangle model. The agent is something that produces disease. In this particular situation, the root cause of chickenpox is a disease, known as the varicella-zoster virus. The infected cells are spread by this virus. The host is an organism that spreads the illness. The most common incidence of chickenpox is in school-aged children. For chickenpox, many hosts are represented by the fluids and infected individuals of the blisters that may be transmitted by direct contact or air. The hosts may be affected differently by this particular disease due to some personal characteristics. For instance, adults which are infected with chickenpox might encounter far more complications than children that are infected.
The disease is spread from host to host through either direct contact or airborne contagions if an infected person coughs or sneezes in the vicinity. A host with chickenpox is contagious 1-2 days before the appearance of the rash, and up to 5 days after. Once scabs form over the rash, the disease can no longer be spread. The host develops an immune response and it is extremely rare for an individual to get chickenpox again, thus making the case for effective immunizations. However, it should be noted that even after recovery from chickenpox, the virus stays in the body in its inactive form, potentially causing shingles later in adult life (Virginia Department of Health, 2018).
The environment may be the very last corner of the epidemiologic triangle. It encompasses the outside conditions as well as the surroundings of the host that create the condition to be transmitted. This particular virus is spread via indirect or direct contact with an infected individual. It can in addition survive for a quick length of time to be transmitted from some contaminated items, like the clothes of an infected individual. Chickenpox is commonly transmitted during early winter or spring with moderate temperatures allowing for better survivability of the virus outside the host organism combined with physical effects of coughs and sneezes commonly seen in children during seasonal colds.
Role of the Community Health Nurse
The spread of chickenpox may be stopped or even evaded with preventive measures, like vaccination. Thus, health professionals that are accountable for training the public and gathering essential data to foresee an outbreak play a major role in the wellness of the community. One of these experts is a neighborhood wellness nurse, whose goals include checking as well as reaching community members to prevent health problems just before they spread through the whole community. In the situation of chickenpox, community wellness nurses must gather as well as evaluate the information regarding people, who had been and weren’t vaccinated. Looking at the most popular situations of infected individuals also can supply some insight into the market circumstance of the community, which might enable the nurses to inform particular groups of individuals to take precautions. Analyzing probably the most regular complications can assist community health nurses to determine possible influences or connections which are contained in the community. The promotion of correct hygiene, vaccination, and total illness awareness may also turn into among the nurses’ objectives. When treated correctly and timely, chickenpox is usually a condition that doesn’t considerably challenge the community’s overall health.s
The highly infectious status of chickenpox requires continuous alert and efforts from community health professionals to manage infection rates from the varicella vaccine. By CDC recommendations, prevention is the best strategy. Therefore, advocacy for vaccinations is the primary objective for community health nurses. Vaccinations can have instances of breakthrough chickenpox, but the herd immunity effect is vital to decreasing the rate of infection and lessening exposure to the virus. Working with populations who may not have access to the vaccine or are skeptical of vaccination, in general, is important to the general community health. Furthermore, nurses can engage in research and data collection regarding infection rates, chickenpox treatments in medical facilities, and rates of complications and death from the disease. Understanding data trends can form certain patterns from an epidemiological standpoint and applying models such as discussed above can aid public health professionals in establishing causes and subsequent containment of chickenpox infection outbreaks (Widgren, Giesecke, Lindquist, & Tegnell, 2016).
National Agency
Chickenpox is induced by a virus that may lead to someone getting different kinds of diseases. One of them is shingles, which may be created individually or perhaps as a continuation of tiny pox. Post-herpetic neuralgia is yet another infection that can appear due to this virus. Every one of the illnesses which are caused by the varicella-zoster virus can create a great deal of discomfort to the infected people. The National Shingles Foundation is a company that concentrates on the problems attached to the varicella-zoster virus. This particular foundation is non-profit. The primary activities of its include creating raising funds and community awareness to study the virus, different facets of the sicknesses, and also the effect of theirs on man organisms (National Organization for Rare Disorders, 2017). The foundation is focused on research to stop the virus from appearing just spreading in the very first place instead of analyzing the consequences of the epidemics. Furthermore, the National Shingles Foundation offers curious people info regarding the causes, complications, symptoms, and therapy of varicella-zoster disease associated illnesses. Nevertheless, it doesn’t provide medical assistance or advice, though the site has some info about preventive measures, treatments, and psychosocial interventions (National Organization for Rare Disorders, 2017).
Conclusion
Chickenpox is a very contagious communicable disease brought on by the varicella-zoster virus. The main symptoms of it are rashes as well as blisters which show up on the skin of infected individuals after a person to 2 days of nausea, fever, and exhaustion. The condition enters the body with the respiratory tract and also may be transmitted by direct contact or air with the infected individual’s blisters. Several affected individuals can face a selection of problems which vary from bacterial skin infections and bleeding to encephalitis, cerebellitis, along with arterial stroke. Infants, pregnant women, adults, along individuals with weakened immune systems are at a greater risk of acquiring problems. Chickenpox is usually managed as well as avoided using vaccination. The job of a neighborhood health nurse in the therapy of chickenpox is to spread awareness to the community and also collect information attached to the illness. Providing information that is necessary to people is additionally the main objective of the National Shingles Foundation.
References
Amalnath, D., Karthikeyan, A., Thammishetti, V., Subrahmanyam, D. K. S., & Surendran, D. (2016). Neurological complications due to chickenpox in adults: A retrospective study of 20 patients. Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology, 19(1), 161.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Chickenpox. Web.
Chowdhury, M. K., Siddique, A. A., Haque, M. M., Ali, S., Biswas, S., Biswas, P. K., & Ahasan, H. N. (2014). Life threatening complications of chicken pox in a young adult. Journal of Medicine, 15(1), 55-57.
National Organization for Rare Disorders. (2017). National Shingles Foundation. Web.
Tafuri, S., Guerra, R., Cappelli, M. G., Martinelli, D., Prato, R., & Germinario, C. (2014). Determinants of varicella breakthrough: results of a 2012 case control study. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 10(3), 667-670. Web.
Virginia Department of Health. (2018). Chickenpox (Varicella). Web.
Widgren, K., Giesecke, J., Lindquist, L., & Tegnell, A. (2016). The burden of chickenpox disease in Sweden. BMC Infectious Diseases, 16(1). Web.