Electronic Reporting of Diagnostic Lab Results

The assignment analyzes the advantages of automating the reporting of diagnostic laboratory results electronically. It emphasizes how this process enables the timely identification of emerging diseases, facilitating swift responses and corrective measures from the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The document delves into the significance of electronic reporting in enhancing public health surveillance and control.

Running head: COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
Name of Student
Institution affiliation

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EBOLA
Communicable diseases are persistently a fundamental public health priority both in Australia
and the globe at large. Among the most pressing of such communicable diseases is Ebola. Just as
a serious illness, Ebola is caused by Ebola virus that brings about acute and serious illnesses and
harms to the human body if not treated (Crawford, 2015). The disease was first noticed in 1976
in 2 simultaneous outbreaks one in the Democratic Republic of Congo and another in South
Sudan.
The worst outbreak in West Africa was experienced between 2014 and 2016 in which there was
a complex outbreak of Ebola. This outbreak recorded the highest number of cases and deaths
since it was first noticed in 1976. Ebola is a deadly illness that is mostly characterized by internal
and external bleeding of body parts, fever, body aches and diarrhea caused by a virus that
damages the body’s immune system. It causes blood-clotting cells to drop because it ultimately
weakens the immune system of the body.
There have not been any reported cases of Ebola virus among the citizens of Australia or among
Australian animals. But even with this, the government of Australia has been careful enough and
taken the most appropriate precautions to ensure the security and safety of the Australia people
(Webber, 2009). The Australian government recognizes the social and economic situation and
the critical medical conditions that West African countries had to bear when they were affected
by the virus. In a bid to protect her citizens, the government of Australia performs screening her
citizens to protect the health of the country at large (Lederberg, 2012).

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In Australia and Internationally Ebola are transmitted through human to human contact through
broken skin, mucous or saliva membranes (Richards, 2016). When the blood secretions, organs
and bodily fluids that are infected come to contact there is a high possibility of transmission.
Contaminated surfaces and materials like bedding and clothing also promote the transmission.
It is believed that Ebola viruses are naturally hosted in fruit bats with the highest levels of
outbreaks being recorded among other species as monkeys, forest antelope, gorillas, and
chimpanzees. It is introduced into the human population via close contact with the organs, blood
or any other bodily fluids of the infected animal whether dead or alive. Hence routes of
transmission mainly include skin and other external commonly used materials like cutting blades
and sheets. The virus can be spread from an individual to another through body fluids among
them waste products and blood. It is also spread sexually when semen of a man who has
recovered from Ebola has sex with a woman or even orally (Stanhope, 2015).
The risk factors of contracting Ebola is very low in most people with all the cases of death or
illness found to have occurred in Africa except for a laboratory contamination that took place in
England and Russia. The risk of contracting this infectious disease is increased whenever people
travels to or live in African countries that have been hit by the outbreak. Among those at the
highest risks include;
 Healthcare workers and family members who could be taking care of a person infected
with Ebola (Atherstone, 2014)
 Animal researchers doing direct handling of rodent, bat or primates from a region where
Ebola virus outbreak has been experienced
 Laboratory personnel handling bodily fluids or specimen from patients with Ebola virus

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 People taking part in funeral rites in which there is direct contact or exposure to the
remains of human in a region where the disease outbreak is evident (Bouzid, 2016).
Causative Agents, Hosts and Environmental Factors
There are identified five types of Ebola out of which four have been found to cause diseases in
humans. The types of Ebola include;
 Zaire ebolavirus
 Suda ebolavirus
 Tai Forest ebolavirus
 Bundibugyo ebolavirus
 Reston ebolavirus which does not cause disease in human beings
Till this date, the natural harbor of Ebola virus has not been established. This then translates that
the way in which the virus first appears in a human being is unknown. It is believed that the first
patient becomes infected by an already infected animal. The first patient gets infected when in
contact with animals such as a fruit bat or primate, apes, and monkeys. This is called spillover
event. Person to Person transmission follows and can lead to large numbers of affected persons.
In some previous Ebola outbreaks, primates also were affected by Ebola and multiple spillover
events occurred when people touched or ate infected primates (guides, 2014).
Ebola virus, just like any other viruses is acellular and obligate and requires a host in order to be
biologically active. The virus has the ability to survive while outside the body of the host even
though at reduced survival levels. Once the virus manages to get into the body of the host, it
receptor will be attached to a specific receptor in the plasma membrane and upon the attachment,
the genome of the virus is integrated into the DNA of the host. The pathonogecity of the virus is

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increased as the virus mutates and divided between the hosts. Due to the presence of
glycoproteins, Ebola virus is found to be very effective in infecting the host (Evans, 2016).
The glycoproteins bind to the specific receptor of the host when exposed to the environment.
They are an integral part in facilitating the communication between other cells in the host and the
outside environment (Stanhope, 2015). Most of the envelope viruses like Ebola virus are found
in abundance in sheds of animal waste as such environments enable the virus to persevere the
environment outside the body of the host. Such persistence increases the chances of reoccurrence
of the virus and thereby increasing the chances of infection among human beings. This leaves the
human population with the task of ensuring proper management and taking care of the
environment as a strategy in the prevention of the outbreak of Ebola (Pray, 2016).
Poor sanitation is a major health issue in Africa thereby exposing African countries to the
aftermath of the survival of Ebola virus (Crawford, 2015). The virus can easily be transmitted
from one person to another by the contamination of water by either fecal containing wastes or
any other virus containing wastes. The scarcity of food is yet another environmental factor that
increases the chances of contracting Ebola virus. In the process of hunting animals for food,
people come into contact with infected animals. Still, malnutrition is yet another factor for the
cause of the disease in Africa.
Lack of the nutrients required by the body leads to psychological suffering among the population
thereby inhibiting the ability of the body to adequately respond to the environment thereby
increasing the vulnerability (Nelson, 2014). Besides the mentioned human factors, scientists have
found out that filo viruses for example Ebola thrive well in the tropical regions of Africa an most
specifically in the humid rainforests. This is the same cases experienced in the Philippines which
have relatively the same seasons and temperature changes as the tropical regions of Africa.

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Ebola is not spread through air, water or in general by food. Mosquitoes and other insects
likewise do not spread Ebola virus. In Africa, it spreads mostly through handling bush meat got
from hunting common game animals like wild pigs (Preston, 2010).
Other areas have registered exotic and unusual pets such as monkeys, apes or pigs as having high
risks of being infected and shedding Ebola virus if they are exposed to the virus. Hence pets do
transmit Ebola virus, however, it is not yet confirmed whether pet body fur can transmit Ebola
virus.
Centre for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that public health officials in
collaboration with a veterinarian evaluate the pet’s risk of exposure to the virus; close contact or
exposure to blood or body fluids of an Ebola patient (Pray, 2016). Based on this evaluation as
well as the specific situation, local and state human and animal health officials will determine
how the pet should be handled because currently there are no routine tests for Ebola available for
pests.
Pigs are the only animals currently very highly susceptible to any Ebola virus. Pigs have been
found to be naturally infected with the Reston virus which is a constituent species of the Ebola
virus that, however, does not cause sickness to humans (Stanhope, 2015).
Epidemiological Methods Used in Investigating Outbreaks
There are four most common types of epidemiological studies:
 Cohort Study.
 Case-Control Study.
 Occupational Epidemiological Study.
 Cross-Sectional Study.

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 Epidemiologists use statistical methods to determine whether the differences they see are
real or due to chance fluctuations.
Epidemiology defined to be the study of the causes, existence, and spread of health and illnesses
in a certain niche population. Infection is the multiplication of organisms inside the tissues of the
host and may eventually culminate into an illness.
A carrier refers to any individual with no overt disease who bears infectious organisms (guides,
2014). There are various steps applied in the investigation of disease-causing epidemics. Means
and methods have advanced tremendously overtime since the time of Hippocrates. Depending on
the technique and analysis, epidemiology varies depending on the type of the disease in question.
Here is a process that can be used in Epidemiology Study.
Acknowledging the existence of a problem: It is quite expensive to undertake full studies in
epidemiology besides the tiresome nature of the task. It is important to establish the need of a
research before a study is undertaken (Wallace, 2014).
 Justification of the homogeneity of the undertaking: conclusions drawn from homogenous
occurrences are likely to be suspected and thus it is required that the undertaken events to be the
real cases of the disease under study (Singer, 2016).
 Gather all the occurrences: Inspecting an enormous data would yield more accurate results
hence it is important to gather as much information and one can to enable evaluation of the
greatest available risk factors. Various strategies can be deployed in the gathering of the events
including from records of hospitals and epidemiological study methods.
 The events can be characterized by Incidence rates and prevalence rates.
 Often, the occurrence of a single disease entity is set as an event (Organization, 2013).

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 Given inherent heterogeneous nature of any given disease (i.e., the unique disease
principle), a single disease entity may be treated as disease subtypes. This framework is
well conceptualized in the interdisciplinary field of molecular pathological epidemiology.
Events characterization as epidemiological factors
1. Predisposing factors
o Factors not related to the environment that facilitates the chances of getting a
disease for example age, genetic history and gender
2. Enabling/disabling factors
o Environment-related factors that either facilitate or inhibit the spread of the
infection. Disabling factors are among them proper diet and regular exercise.
Malnutrition, poor nutrition as well as weakened immunities are elements of
disease enabling factors (Pray, 2016)
3. Precipitation factors
o Important in the identification of the exposure source and may be such factors as
gene, toxins or germs.
4. Reinforcing factors
o Generally compound the chances of contracting the disease and may include such
factors as excessive environmental stress or even exposure to stress from the
environment.
 Checking the trends and patterns: The similarities in the occurrences which could help in the
identification of the main risk factors that would facilitate the contraction of the disease are

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considered in this. Such risks can be identified with the help of epidemic curves. (Webber,
2009).
 Formulate a hypothesis: The researcher may consider postulating as to the extent of the
correlation between the disease and the probable agent causing the disease upon observation of
the trend in the cases.
 Test the hypothesis: Uncontrollable variations are found to be a pollutant to the
epidemiological studies conducted since these experiments can never be done in a laboratory
thereby making interpretation of the found results a bit of a challenge. This often makes the
results difficult to interpret. To assess the correlation between the disease and the disease-causing
factors, two methods are deployed; Koch's postulates and Bradford-Hill Criteria
 Publish the results: The found out result are published and the findings made known so as the
necessary adjustments can be made.
Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases
There is the need to prevent and control of Ebola. Among the strategies include;
 Implementing vaccination laws and taking universal cautions pathogen procedures
according to public health policies, and regulations. Vaccinations of individuals will be
organized and medical assessments carried out besides any other strategies that would
ensure non-harmful infection in a bid to contain the spread of communicable diseases
(Bonita, 2012).

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 Ongoing health education relating to disease prevention, hygiene measures for all people
ranging from children in the family unit, public domain and reaching the masses in
various ways to foster cleanliness and prevention.
 Implementing good hand washing procedures.
 Implementing case isolation and effective treatment to minimize contact and reduce the
chances of re-infection and even infecting other people (Lederberg, 2012).
 ensuring safety and security of blood being transfused
 Avoiding infection while traveling abroad
Undertakings which provide tourism services shall inform their customers about to travel to a
foreign country of:
 the risks of becoming infected with a communicable disease in the country to be visited;
 the validity of vaccination or of using medicinal products;
 the chances of getting medical advice before travelling and medication during the travel.
Establishment and termination of quarantine
(1) Quarantine is a restriction of the movement of persons, goods, and vehicles and of the
provision of services which is established with the aim of preventing any extremely dangerous
communicable disease from spreading outside the focus of the disease (Atherstone, 2014).
(2) For the purposes of this Act, the focus of a disease is a delimited territory containing persons
suffering from a communicable disease and persons suspected of being infected and where
intensified surveillance over the residents is exercised by the health protection authorities
(Cavendish, 2011).

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(3) Quarantine is established by a written order of the county government on the proposal of the
director general of the public health.
(4) Quarantine requirements and the procedure for compliance therewith shall be established by
a regulation of the minister responsible for the area.
(5) Quarantine is ended by a documented instruction of the public health officers on the
recommendation by the general director of the public after the outbreak of the communicable
disease has been thwarted, the fulfillments of the requirements for the control and the and
attention on the disease has been declared of no impact any more (Kahn, 2015).
(6) The outlining of quarantine requirements and the bringing to an end thereof shall be to the
public knowledge through the various available sources of media
Principles of Surveillance
 The ease of spread of communicable diseases from an individual to another is very high
in the society and may result into numerous illnesses and deaths. A comprehensive public
health surveillance comprised of close range observation, noting and reporting of
scenarios of weighty communicable diseases in a society has extensive being covered in
this excerpt (Evans, 2016).
 An vast comprehension of public health surveillance gives a healthcare practitioner an
opportunity to identify any chances of existence of extra cases of communicable diseases
in a society and submit the report and the most appropriate recommendations to the
concerned authorities.

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 Through the use of public health surveillance, one is able to evaluate the extent of
damage by a major communicable diseases in a given geographical boundary by taking
the single head counts of the reported cases of the disease infection.
 Planning and establishing the most appropriate measures to curb and control
communicable infections is made possible through the collection and analysis of public
health data. Such measures would be among them supply and distribution of the required
medicines as well as enlightening the community as regards prevention of the diseases.
In-depth explanations of the public health surveillance basic concepts, the various
available types of surveillance as well as the undertakings one involves in during
recording and reporting illnesses is discussed herein. (Crawford, 2015).
Definition
Public health surveillance is the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of
data, closely integrated with the timely dissemination of these data to those responsible for
preventing and controlling disease and injury. Public health surveillance is a tool to estimate the
health status and behavior of the populations served by ministries of health, ministries of finance,
and donors.
Because surveillance can directly measure what is going on in the population, it is useful both for
measuring the need for interventions and for directly measuring the effects of interventions. The
purpose of surveillance is to empower decision makers to lead and manage more effectively by
providing timely, useful evidence (Bouzid, 2016).

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Types of Surveillance
 Sentinel Surveillance
 Periodic Population-based Surveys
 Laboratory related surveillance
The methods deployed in the surveillance of infectious diseases in a particular country are a
factor of the economic status of the country. That means developed countries are likely to enjoy
more complex data surveillance techniques as opposed to economically endangered countries.
Surveillance Data analysis and dissemination
Analysis of surveillance information is based on person, place and/or time. There should be
continuous review of the hospital data by qualified technical personnel so as to ascertain that the
data relied upon for the operations of the hospital is valid and not containing any elements of
misleading information (Lyons-Weiler, 2015). Tables and graphs are found to be the most
appropriate when presenting data due to their simplistic nature. It is worth to note that the data
should be delivered to the policy makers in time so as to enable them include the collected and
interpreted data when coming up with programs deemed to be of necessity in the surveillance of
data.
The fast changing informatics field of health, concerned with gathering, classification,
preservation, extraction, analysis and display of volumes of health data, gives an opportunity for
real integrated public health surveillance depending on the standardization of data, infrastructure
of communication, and regulations bordering access and safety of health data. By incorporating a
systematic approach to the contents of data standard, surveillance will benefit (Ealy, 2015). An

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example is the deployment of systems based on standards in supporting the automation of
reporting diagnostic laboratory results electronically enabling the identification of noticed
diseases thereby enhancing quick responses and corrective measures by the U.S Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.

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References
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Cavendish, M. (2011). Diseases and Disorders, Volume 1. Machester: Marshall Cavendish.
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