THESE 2 FORUMS NeeD TO HAVE A RESPONSE IN 100 WORDS 200 WORDS TOTAL. PLEASE USE INTEXT CITATIONS AND PARAPHRASE. forum1

The text states that some diseases appear out of 'nowhere' & rapidly can become lethal. Research one of these diseases (ie: SARS, Group A Strep, E.Coli 0157:H7, drug-resistant TB, etc.) and share the information with the group (what causes it, sign/symptoms, how is it spread, how is it treated, mortality rates, etc).

The disease that I chose to research is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). SARS is caused by a virus. The first reported case of SARS was reported in Asia sometime around February 2003. The illness spread to more than two dozen countries before the SARS global outbreak of 2003 was contained.

The virus is within the same family of viruses that causes the common cold. With the infection a patient would have acute respiratory distress and could sometimes result in death. The most common symptoms of SARS are chills and shaking, cough, fever, headache, and muscle aches. SARS is spread when someone coughs or sneezes. The infected droplets from this cough or sneeze go into the air and if a non-infected person breathes these droplets in or touches the particles they can catch the virus.

There are a number of treatment options for individuals that contract SARS. These treatment options include antibiotics, antiviral medications, steroids, and oxygen. The mortality rate from SARS was between 9 and 12 percent and upwards of 50 percent in those over the age of 65. Although nowhere near as deadly as some of the more serious diseases of the past the speed and ease that it takes for the SARS virus to spread is very alarming knowing that future and more deadly viruses could spread in the same way. Thankfully with the work of multiple agencies to include the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) there has not been any known cases of SARS reported anywhere in the world since 2004.

forum 2:

The benefit of vaccinations is obvious to public health and medical professionals - but some people resist vaccinating their children or themselves. Why? Is there a medical basis for their concerns?

     There are many people that does not vaccinate themselves or their children because they feel that it is going to cause more harm than good.  I want to start off in saying, that I am not one of these people.  I vaccinate my children with everything that is needed because I want to make sure that my children stay healthy.  I do not want them to catch any diseases and such.  Anyway back to the topic.

     There are different reasons why parents do not vaccinate themselves, or their children, but one of the biggest reason is because of strengthen the immune system.  Parents and adults feel that if they do not get vaccinated, or their children, their bodies immune system will get stronger from fighting off the disease they might catch.  There was a study that was done with a total of 250 families that were selected.  These families got questionnaires about if they got their child vaccinated, or not.  158 families reported they did not vaccinate their children, and 92 families reported having vaccinated children (Alfredsson, Svensson, Trollfors, Borres, 2004)

     There were parents that were concerned about the safety of the vaccines, that is why they did not get their child vaccinated.  This is another big reason why parents don't vaccinate themselves, or their children.  There are an increasing number of parents who hesitate, or decide not to vaccinate, because they are worried about safety (Alfredsson, Svensson, Trollfors, Borres, 2004).  Many families want to do more research on the vaccine before giving it to themselves, or their children.  Doing this research can be harmful because they might misunderstand the information.  They get stuck on the negative, and cannot see the positive.

     Vaccines are good for people, they are there to help.  There is some negatives to it, but overall, everyone should be vaccinated against diseases and such.  I think that this topic is very important to public health because we need to make sure that we keep people as healthy as they can.  If someone gets infected with a disease, that means they can spread it to others.  That multiplies in big numbers.  I picked this topic because I thought it would be interesting to know what other parents thought about the vaccinations.  Just because I believe in it, doesn't mean others do.  I think that we can get involved by educating people the positives that vaccinations bring to them, and our society