Addressing the Spread of Infectious Disease

Infectious diseases can be spread in countless ways: through food, water, insects, or by touching or breathing a contagious element. For instance, microbes can be transmitted in a day care on toys that are handled by many children and caregivers, in a restaurant with unsanitary kitchen tools, or on a public transportation vehicle when one passenger coughs or sneezes.

One of the common concerns of public health officials is how to limit the spread of infectious disease by informing, motivating, and providing resources to the general population.

In this Discussion, you analyze factors that impact the spread of an infectious disease. You consider how public health officials could address different methods by which the disease is spread. Also, you identify social and ethical issues that might arise when trying to address the methods and provide recommendations for managing those issues.

To prepare for this Discussion,

Review this week's Learning Resources on communicable diseases and the factors involved in the cycle of infectious diseases.

Select an infectious disease of interest to you.

Identify methods by which the disease you selected is spread, and consider how these methods could be limited or addressed.

Reflect on the social and ethical issues that public health officials might face when trying to address the spread of the disease, and consider how those issues could be managed.

Post a brief 300 word description of the infectious disease you selected. Describe at least two methods by which your disease could be spread. Then, explain how those methods could be limited or addressed, including any social or ethical issues that might arise.

Finally, provide recommendations for public health officials trying to manage those issues or challenges.