Infectious Disease Prevention And Management Planning For Commonwealth Games 2018

Gold Coast Environment In Relation To Infectious Diseases

Gold Coast Environment In Relation To Infectious Diseases

The Gold Coast is an area that boasts of diverse climatic conditions. The diverse climatic condition supports a variety of activities. These climatic conditions are however a blessing and curse in disguise since they are able to support the development of various vectors.

The gold coast normally experience the tropical climate. The tropical temperature is always around 80 degrees Celsius. This area never experience frost. The high temperatures favor the growth and survival of vectors like the mosquitoes that spread infectious diseases like dengue fever and malaria. Precipitation at the Gold coast is also very high throughout the year and this is due to the intense temperatures leading to the development of cumulus and the nimbus clouds (Zhou & Xie, 2015). The heavy precipitation leads to development of pools of stagnant water that act as breeding grounds for various vectors of infectious diseases.

The humid tropical climates provides very thick vegetation which mostly grow in layers and provide sheds underneath. It is the sheds and darkness underneath that allows the vectors to thrive and lead to infectious diseases .The fact that the Gold Coast neighbors the ocean also provides an avenue for the spread of various infectious diseases. Vibrio cholera a bacteria that causes cholera thrives well under alkaline conditions that are provided by the salty water of the ocean.

Infrastructure Related To Infection Control And Management

The commonwealth government had several plans to reduce the incidences of infectious diseases along the Gold Coast at the time of the Olympic Games. Mass gatherings of such magnitudes were bound to create or rather lead to infectious diseases. The government therefore came up with plans to control and manage the diseases. One of the infrastructure put in place was thorough screening of the entry points into the country. The country set up several public health departments at the border points so as to screen all the travelers of contagious diseases like Ebola. Those found with the disease were to be located at designated locations to get treatment until they were safe enough to mingle with the public.

In bid to reduce the incidences of HIV, the government should come up with special planning that will ensure all the prostitutes at the Gold Coast are taught on the adverse effects of the viral infection. This also includes the issuance of condoms so that there is minimal interchange of fluids during sexual intercourse. All these are just geared towards reducing the incidences and the prevalence of HIV infections.

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Infrastructure Related To Infection Control And Management

Since there was a likelihood of congestion among those using buses, there would be contact from people from different regions with different infectious diseases like H.influenzae .In bid to control the spread of such infections, the government would regulate the number of people in each vehicle. The buses would be required to carry very few people so that there is proper ventilation to protect against infection of diseases like H.influenzae and asthma.

Vaccination is another key infrastructure that can work wonders when it comes to control and the management of various infectious diseases. Vaccination comes in handy when dealing with viral diseases like measles and yellow fever. The commonwealth government through the department of public health should therefore ensure vaccination of all travelers at the entry points. Focus should however be on those tourists from developing countries like Africa for the sake of yellow fever.

Etiology and epidemiology of influenza

Etiology

Haemophilus influenza refers to any disease that is as a result of bacteria called H.influenzae. The most common types of H.influenzae include a, b, c, d, e and finally f. However, there are other non-identifiable types of H.influenzae and they include type b or the Hib. These bacteria usually colonize people around the nose and the throat (WAN SAI CHEONG et al., 2015). At these points, the bacteria are not harmful in anyway. The bacteria however cause infection when they travel or move to other parts of the body (Cleland et al., 2017). Studies have however not found out how long the bacteria stays in the body before causing infection. Symptoms however appear within a very short period of time.

The H.influenzae bacteria spread through respiratory droplets. So incase an individual with the bacteria in his nose or throat coughs or sneezes, the bacteria can spread to the other person if they come in contact with them (Smith-Vaughan et al., 2016). It should however be noted that even people who have the bacteria in both the nose and the throat can as well spread the bacteria even if they are not sick.

Haemophilus influenza is common among babies as well as the children who are below the age of five years. Older adults of 65 years and above as well as the American Indians, the Alaska Natives and people with unique medical conditions are at higher risk of getting the infection (Young, 2015). The unique medical conditions at risk of contracting influenza include sickle cell disease, HIV infection, cancers that need chemotherapy, radiotherapy or the bone marrow stem cells and finally antibody as well as the complement deficiency syndromes. These are conditions which impairs the body in fighting against diseases.

Major Infectious Diseases At The Gold Coast, Their Etiology And Epidemiology

Epidemiology

Infection of haemophilus influenza vary among different groups in Australia. According to studies however, 40-60 of the 100,000 children who are below 5 years are infected by the bacteria on an annual basis. Majority of the cases at 55% however occur in children who are above 2 years old (Moa, Muscatello, Turner, & MacIntyre, 2016). The epidemiology is however quite distinct among the Aboriginal children that are found in the Northern territory where there are 450 out of 100,000 below five years being infected in a single year.

HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS is another major infectious disease along the Gold Coast.HIV is mostly caused by unprotected sexual behavior with an infected person. During the games that were held at the Gold coast. Several prostitutes flocked the Gold Coast to carry out their usual business.

Etiology

HIV is type of the retrovirus which attacks and divides in the human CD4 T cells. This virus can be transmitted through different fluids that include blood products, sexual fluids and breast milk as well. Majority of the people are however infected through sexual intercourse.

Epidemiology

According to studies, Australia has a total population of 22.68 million people. The total estimate number of people living with HIV at the end of 2010 were 30,486.The incidence of new HIV diagnoses has however increased over the past years at 8.2% between 2010 and 2011(Wilkinson et al., 2016).There are however very cases of death due to HIV since there is an array of multiple line antiretroviral therapy. Vertical transmission remains low with only 2 cases reported between 2009 and 2010(Larney, Mathers, Poteat, Kamarulzaman, & Degenhardt, 2015).Victoria is the leading across the country with 5.7 cases among 100,000 people.

Infectious Diseases Health Services Capacity And Their Critical Control Points.

There are different strategies that the common wealth could utilize to reduce the incidences of the infectious diseases along the Gold coast. With the excess visitors from across the world, there was a likelihood of higher incidences of infectious diseases along the Gold coast. It was therefore necessary to identify the critical control points of the major infectious diseases then come up with a strategy to reduce the incidences. Some of the critical points for diseases include breeding grounds. Identifying critical control points is the initial step in eradication of the disease.

The critical control point for HIV is preventing sexual intercourse with people who are already infected with the virus (Hayek et al., 2015). According to studies, there are approximately 3000 prostitutes at the Gold coast. Having many sexual partners is one of the leading factors that could lead to incidences of HIV. The best strategy in this case could involve the banning of the illegal trade completely. Any prostitute found in the street should be arrested and prosecuted in the court of law. This would reduce the incidences of HIV .If banning such kind of trade proves impossible or difficult, then the commonwealth government should offer protective measures like condoms at designated places so that there is limited contact of infected fluids during the sexual intercourse.

Infectious Disease Health Services Capacity

Dengue fever is due to mosquito bites. Dengue fever is a disease that is due to dengue viruses that are spread from one person through mosquito bites. Infectious Disease Prevention And Management Planning For Commonwealth Games 2018 Discussion Paper  The critical control point in this scenario involves providing an unsuitable environment for then vector to thrive. Mosquitoes are known to live along human dwellings especially in long grass (Achee et al., 2015). Pools of stagnant water are also other important breeding grounds for mosquitoes. To effectively control dengue fever therefore, there should be strategies to eliminate pools of stagnant water and long grass. This should be carried out along the Gold coast so that the incidences of dengue viruses reduce significantly.

Haemophilus influenza is a virus that is spread through respiratory droplets. This mostly occurs in areas that are crowded like in buses and trains (Butler & Myers, 2018). There should be initiatives or strategies to ensure that that the trains or buses carry the recommended number of people with everyone sitting comfortable so that there is no contact between people who are already infected by the bacteria.

The Role Of Transport Access In Affecting The Risk Of Infectious Disease Transmission.

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The Gold Coast is well served by different forms of infrastructure. Some of the notable forms of transport include water transport, railway transport, air transport and road transport. The aim of installing all this form of transport was to ensure ample movement of both the players and the supporters as well as the tourists who come to visit the Gold Coast. The improved forms of transport are however both a blessing and a curse in disguise. Improved forms of transport have according to studies, led to incidences of several infectious diseases.

Road transport through buses is the cheapest form of transport in Australia. Due to its cheap nature, majority of the travelers would prefer it. This would in return lead to congestion in the buses or vehicles. Majority of this vehicles are poorly ventilated. The congestion is likely to bring together people with different form of infection like haemophilus influenza. According to studies and earlier explanations, this form of infectious disease spreads from one individual to another through contact. There would therefore high incidences of the bacteria infection among the road users since they will definitely come in contact. The Commonwealth government should therefore implement optional forms of transport whenever there is another event that calls for mass gathering.

Role Of Transport Access In Affecting Risk Of Infectious Disease Transmission

The use of road transport provides a chance for the travelers to consume foods that are sold at the roadside. Research however indicate that most of these foods prepared and sold at the roadside are of poor hygiene and quality and contaminated with various infectious agents like the vibrio cholera bacteria and the salmonella typhus. Consumption of such foods therefore leads to higher incidences of the infectious diseases cholera and typhoid fever.

Presence of the ocean provided the chance to utilize water transport by some of the travelers. There are several vectors along the coastline such as mosquitos. Mosquitoes are vectors of different diseases like the dengue fever and malaria .The use of water transport therefore increased the rate of infectious diseases especially those of dengue fever and malaria.

References

Achee, N. L., Gould, F., Perkins, T. A., Reiner, R. C., Morrison, A. C., Ritchie, S. A., … Scott, T. W. (2015). A Critical Assessment of Vector Control for Dengue Prevention. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 9(5), e0003655. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0003655

Butler, D. F., & Myers, A. L. (2018). Changing Epidemiology of Haemophilus influenzae in Children. Infectious Disease Clinics of North America, 32(1), 119-128. doi:10.1016/j.idc.2017.10.005

Cleland, G., Leung, C., Wan Sai Cheong, J., Francis, J., Heney, C., & Nourse, C. (2017). Paediatric invasive Haemophilus influenzae in Queensland, Australia, 2002-2011: Young Indigenous children remain at highest risk. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 54(1), 36-41. doi:10.1111/jpc.13662

Hayek, S., Dietz, P. M., Van Handel, M., Zhang, J., Shrestha, R. K., Huang, Y. A., … Mermin, J. (2015). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Funding for HIV Testing Associated With Higher State Percentage of Persons Tested. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 21(6), 531-537. doi:10.1097/phh.0000000000000222

Larney, S., Mathers, B. M., Poteat, T., Kamarulzaman, A., & Degenhardt, L. (2015). Global Epidemiology of HIV Among Women and Girls Who Use or Inject Drugs. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 69, S100-S109. doi:10.1097/qai.0000000000000623

Moa, A. M., Muscatello, D. J., Turner, R. M., & MacIntyre, C. R. (2016). Epidemiology of influenza B in Australia: 2001-2014 influenza seasons. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, 11(2), 102-109. doi:10.1111/irv.12432

Rowe, S., Thevarajan, I., Richards, J., Gibney, K., & Simmons, C. (2018). The Rise of Imported Dengue Infections in Victoria, Australia, 2010–2016. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, 3(1), 9. doi:10.3390/tropicalmed3010009

Smith-Vaughan, H. C., Beissbarth, J., Bowman, J., Hare, K. M., Price, E. P., Pickering, J., … Leach, A. J. (2016). Geographic consistency in dominant, non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae genotypes colonising four distinct Australian paediatric groups: a cohort study. Pneumonia, 8(1). doi:10.1186/s41479-016-0013-y

Viennet, E., Ritchie, S. A., Faddy, H. M., Williams, C. R., & Harley, D. (2014). Epidemiology of dengue in a high-income country: a case study in Queensland, Australia. Parasites & Vectors, 7(1), 379. doi:10.1186/1756-3305-7-379

WAN SAI CHEONG, J., SMITH, H., HENEY, C., ROBSON, J., SCHLEBUSCH, S., FU, J., & NOURSE, C. (2015). Trends in the epidemiology of invasive Haemophilus influenzae disease in Queensland, Australia from 2000 to 2013: what is the impact of an increase in invasive non-typable H. influenzae (NTHi)? Epidemiology and Infection, 143(14), 2993-3000. doi:10.1017/s0950268815000345

Wilkinson, A. L., El-Hayek, C., Spelman, T., Fairley, C. K., Leslie, D., McBryde, E. S., … Stoové, M. (2016). A ‘test and treat’ prevention strategy in Australia requires innovative HIV testing models: a cohort study of repeat testing among ‘high-risk’ men who have sex with men: Table 1. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 92(6), 464-466. doi:10.1136/sextrans-2015-052421

Young, J., McGrath, R., & Adams, C. (2015). Developing and refining a participatory educative model with Health Science students – A case study of practice. Infectious Disease Prevention And Management Planning For Commonwealth Games 2018 Discussion Paper