Discuss about the Disease Prevention and Infection Management.
Gold Coast is a city of South Brisbane in Queensland, located on the east cost of the Australia. It is famous for surfing spots, sandy beaches, waterways and inland canals. The Gold Coast climate is humid with hot summers and warm winters. Winter season is pleasant with little rainfall. During summer, it experiences heavy thundershower and rain sometimes lasts up to few weeks. Almost 10millions of tourists visit Gold Coast annually, which contribute to more than $5billion to the city’s financial improvement per year (Cooper & Lemckert, 2012). The tourists are attracted due to Gold Coast’s beaches, convenient transport facilities, recreational activities and sports. It represented two national level competitions, namely ‘Rugby league football’ and ‘Australian rules football’ since 2007 and 2011, respectively. Initially, the town was named as South Coast, but, due to price rise for goods, services and real estate, the name was changed to ‘Gold Coast’. The area demonstrated an evolving collaborative surroundings for the mixed use of knowledge and health activities and benefits from more than almost $5billion in local development. The Parklands area has been recognized as the location for 2018Commonwealth Games (“Parklands Project”, 2016). As a public health advisor, it is important to establish processes in order to manage probable risks linked with such major events. This is because such events experience influx of international and local athletes, visitors, support staff and tourists. The population expand during the month of April and place major stress on local infrastructure, which in turn increase public health risks, especially infectious diseases. The diseases spread from one individual to another and thereby, called communicable disease. The causes of spreading include touch, coughing, sneezing, sharing same towel and so on. Influenza, tuberculosis, measles, chicken pox are some communicable disease. During any event, sell of street foods likely to increase. Uncover foods and water more prone to be contaminated with various germs and thereby, increase the chance of disease spread (Bennett, Dolin, & Blaser, 2014). The contamination may cause due to preparation of foods in unhygienic ways, including storing and serving, using dirty utensils, dirty hands. Also, houseflies transfer germs from waste to food.
Infrastructure associated with infection control and management
Infection control and management considers factors associated with spread of infection, prevention, surveillance and management. Communicable diseases still remain a major public health issue in Australia and across the globe. The problems that are prevalent in Australia are diverse and include foodborne virus, occurrence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria, vector-borne disease, vaccine preventable disease and sexually transmitted disease. The health care advisors and respective authoritative bodies like Office of Health Protection are engaged in various activities in order to diminish the prevalence of infections and their spread, which in turn would reduce the economic and social impact of the communicable diseases. These bodies hold major roles as developer, implementer and co-ordinator of nationalized actions in response to disease outbreaks and also act as leaders in developing effective practice guidelines and public health policies. Miller & Palenik, (2014) in this regard have mentioned that a nationalised perspective could be obtained through various networks like ‘Communicable Disease Network’ in Australia. The public health advisors should provide policy and technical advice on infectious diseases in order to ensure best practices in public health services. Extensive international and national networking facilities have access to various expertise in the field of infectious diseases, which in turn ensures timely and appropriate responses towards disease outbreaks. This includes high quality inputs and national significance to public health policy, programs and decision-making. Complying with the Quarantine Act (1908), involvement in human health administration along with close connection with the inspection services, Australia strengthens multidirectional approach of the public health advisors’ multidirectional approaches towards disease control (“Quarantine Act 1908”, 2016). The present infrastructure related to infection control and management includes two major objectives: improved prevention, identification and response to communicable disease and improved delivery and organization of infectious disease control (Zingg et al., 2015). These in turn would support the delivery of a national and integrated infectious disease response. The present structure does not alter the accountabilities of the territory and Australian governments rather it focuses on the prioritisation and coordination of the major system elements. The present structure recognises the direction for opportunities and changes for the actions to reinforce the present system.
Major diseases of concern and their relevant etiology and epidemiology
Major diseases of concerns are could be respiratory tract infection, measles, diarrhoea, cholera and many more. Respiratory tract infections like sore throats, cold, laryngitis and sinusitis are caused due to viruses. Bacteria could also cause respiratory tract infections that include whooping cough and pneumonia. Sometimes, bacteria could also cause second time infection after a viral attack. Fever with heavy coughing, chest pain and pain between the shoulders are prominent in pneumonia. Environmental risks associated with respiratory infection include poor hygiene and over-crowded area. Pneumonia and influenza may cause severe issues, especially, these expose community at risk. A recent report reveals that more than half of the population (approximately 69%) are affected with acute respiratory infection annually in Australia. The infection rate was higher among the young population and entails a major burden on the Austrian society (Metersky et al., 2012).
Tuberculosis or TB is spread from one infected individual to another via air medium. Almost 1000cases of TB are identified annually in Australia, where more than 80% people are from various parts of the world (Barry et al., 2012). Indications include appetite loss, fatigue, fever and persistent cough. This disease is especially dangerous for immune compromised individuals and requires antibiotic administration. In the provided scenario, where influx of international and national athletes, spectators, support staff and tourists add stress on the local community, therefore, could increase the chance of public health risks, which might include the outbreak of communicable disease like Tuberculosis.
Chicken pox exhibits flu-like indications like headache, sore throat and fever. Issues associated with this disease are lung infection, encephalitis, meningitis and so on. The varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is an etiologic agent of chicken pox. It is obtained through respiratory droplet inhalation by an individual from an affected person and thereby, referred to as airborne disease. The transmission may also take place via contact of vital vesicles however chance of such transmission is low. Children are more prone to get affected with this disease, where almost 90% of the incidences are taking place among the younger children with less than 10years. Chicken pox is benign among the healthy child but morbidity increases among the immunocompromised patients and adults (Carville, Riddell & Kelly, 2010).
Hepatitis A, B, C, D and E are the responsible viruses for hepatitis. Hepatitis C is a member of flavivirus family that reproduced multiple copies within the human liver cells. The virus does not directly kill the hepatic cells. But immune response is initiated due to viral presence within the liver that in turn causes inflammation and death of hepatic cells. It is evident that there are majorly six types of stains of HCV, where individual genotype contains a, b or c subtypes. Almost 54% prevalence of hepatitis is evident in Australia (Sievert et al., 2011).
The Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011authorises the Department of Health to issue health service instructions to various health services and hospitals. The instructions are issued to promote service integration and coordination, optimise efficient and effective use of resources, set policies and standards for the delivery of high and safe quality services. This further ensures stable service delivery approaches and support the application of legislation, state policies and other relevant agreements (McGorry, Bates & Birchwood, 2013). Health services capacity are brief and emphasise on certain requirements and consequences that are yet to achieve by the health services and hospitals. The QAS or Queensland Ambulance Services provide patient care, high standard emergency treatment and transport for injured and the sick. It maintains current clinical practice standards and considers thoroughly developed statements depend upon the best available evidences.
Problems are more likely to occur in detailed documentations of disease outbreak, vaccinations and other relevant health records of individuals, which should be maintained by respective health departments with incorporation of various databases. Monitoring includes scrutinies of the process, structure and outcome factors in the patient pathway. The public health advisors include evaluation of individual patient risks and isolate those risk factors such as: health status, treatment in hospitals, process, microbial sampling and so on.
Buses, ferries, short-distance trains are easily available in the Gold Coast city. From this, it could be stated that in case of any disease outbreak, individuals would not face any problem in reaching to respective health certain to avail required health services (Li & Hensher, 2011). Also, the QAS offers transport for the non-emergency patients, which enable pre-arranged visit to any medical facility for current treatment and transfer patients between medical facilities for different specialist treatments.
References
Barry, C., Warning, J., Stapledon, R., & Konstantinos, A. (2016). Tuberculosis notifications in Australia, 2008 and 2009. Communicable Diseases Intelligence Quarterly Report, 36(1), 82-94. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23153084.
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23153084)
Bennett, J., Dolin, R., & Blaser, M. (2014). Mandell, Douglas, and Bennett’s principles and practice of infectious diseases (1st ed.).
(https://www.us.elsevierhealth.com/mandell-douglas-and-bennetts-principles-and-practice-of-infectious-diseases-9781455748013.html#panel1)
Carville, K., Riddell, M., & Kelly, H. (2010). A decline in varicella but an uncertain impact on zoster following varicella vaccination in Victoria, Australia. Vaccine, 28(13), 2532-2538. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2010.01.036
(www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X1000068X)
Cooper, J. & Lemckert, C. (2012). Extreme sea-level rise and adaptation options for coastal resort cities: A qualitative assessment from the Gold Coast, Australia. Ocean & Coastal Management, 64, 1-14. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2012.04.001 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0964569112000701)
Li, Z. & Hensher, D. (2011). Crowding and public transport: A review of willingness to pay evidence and its relevance in project appraisal. Transport Policy, 18(6), 880-887. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2011.06.003.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X11000849)
McGorry, P., Bates, T., & Birchwood, M. (2013). Designing youth mental health services for the 21st century: examples from Australia, Ireland and the UK. The British Journal Of Psychiatry, 202(s54), s30-s35. https://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.112.119214
(https://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/202/s54/s30)
Metersky, M., Masterton, R., Lode, H., File, T., & Babinchak, T. (2012). Epidemiology, microbiology, and treatment considerations for bacterial pneumonia complicating influenza. International Journal Of Infectious Diseases, 16(5), e321-e331. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2012.01.003
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22387143)
Miller, C. & Palenik, C. (2014). Infection Control and Management of Hazardous Materials for the Dental Team5 (1st ed., pp. 330-335). Elsevier Health Sciences.
(https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Infection_Control_and_Management_of_Haza.html?id=3D26_Ao7e5gC&redir_esc=y)
PARKLANDS PROJECT ENVIRODEVELOPMENT ACCREDITATION – Parklands Project. (2016). Parklands Project. Retrieved 28 November 2016, from https://www.parklandsproject.com.au/parklands-project-environmental-development-february-2016/
Quarantine Act 1908. (2016). Legislation.gov.au. Retrieved 25 November 2016, from https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2013C00224
Sievert, W., Altraif, I., Razavi, H., Abdo, A., Ahmed, E., & AlOmair, A. et al. (2011). A systematic review of hepatitis C virus epidemiology in Asia, Australia and Egypt. Liver International, 31, 61-80. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-3231.2011.02540.x
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21651703)
Zingg, W., Holmes, A., Dettenkofer, M., Goetting, T., Secci, F., & Clack, L. et al. (2015). Hospital organisation, management, and structure for prevention of health-care-associated infection: a systematic review and expert consensus. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 15(2), 212-224. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s1473-3099(14)70854-0
(https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(14)70854-0/abstract?rss=yes)
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