Genetic Diseases

This article discusses genetic diseases and their impact on families. It explores hereditary patterns, risks of transmission, and the feasibility of using medical tools for diagnosis and treatment. The Surgeon General's tool is highlighted as an important resource for collecting and analyzing medical information.

Running head: GENETIC DISEASES 1
Genetic Diseases
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Introduction
Health is one of the main factor considered in improving the welfare of people and
entire society in a country. Evaluation of the health status of every individual in a country
starts from family level. For successful assessment of the performance of health officers in
control of disease, the use of medical tools becomes a crucial component in the operation.
Effective use of this tool important in the evaluation of familial characteristics and related
medical conditions (Owens et al, 2011). This medical tool involves a comprehensive study
and analysis of the familial genome. The genomic study is pivotal in determining the types of
diagnoses to be used, a prognosis of a given illness, prediction of related risks, disease
prevention and treatment.
Hereditary Patterns
The Surgeon General’s tool enables families to collect, record and analyze medical
information that can be used to identify potential diseases that are likely to affect the family
from one way or the other. A comprehensive analysis of the medical conditions affecting a
family needs reference on the health history of that family because some diseases are
hereditary, therefore, they can be transmitted from one generation to other under the same
familial lineage. Some hereditary conditions observed in the application of this healthcare
tool include both common and rear diseases that have been reported to affect families in
United States of America and other parts of the world.
Common hereditary diseases affecting most families in the country include Cancer,
diabetes and heart diseases. These hereditary patterns have increased in the country due to
changes in the lifestyle of people. These three types of diseases pressurized the Surgeon to
come up with the tool to address the problems of patients and improve healthcare provision.
The chances of transferring traits that are infective of the disease to another generation are

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higher depending on the history of the family especially the parents. Keeping a record of the
health conditions of a family enables medical officers to predict possible diseases that may be
affecting a patient. For instance, if one of the family members died of breast cancer, the
chances of the disease being observed in some family members are higher because most types
of cancers affect the genome of an individual, therefore making it transmissible through
genes. Rear diseases like cystic fibrosis, haemophilia and sickle cell anaemia are also
identified to be familial (Rothman, 2017). History of the health status and medical conditions
that affected great grandparent, grandparents and other relatives of the family is important in
coming up with immediate measures to treat and control these rear diseases because they
result to other complicated diseases like leukaemia and tumours.
Risks of transmitting the diseases
The health history of a given family is an essential component in daily clinical
operations like diagnosis and treatment of patients in a health setup. All clinicians and
medical doctors normally ask the patient any disease that may have affected one of the family
members before diagnosis or treatment is performed. There are various risks related to
transmitting the familial diseases from one generation to another. One of the dangerous risks
is causing severe and chronic infection to present generations (Imes & Lewis, 2014).
Diseases that were seen to be mild and manageable at first are becoming serious and difficult
to manage currently, therefore, affecting the health status of the family members. This risk is
related to the changes in the lifestyle of the people, leading to accumulation of toxic
substances in the body and weakening of the immune system (Benros et al, 2014).
The risk related to the inheritance of diabetes from parents may be dangerous if not
attended before serious symptoms appear. High blood pressure and diabetes may
cumulatively result in cardiovascular diseases if not screened and treated earlier (Brogan et

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al, 2014). The health history of the entire family is important in the contemporary medical
practices. A health history of a family affected by cardiovascular infections is one of the
factors that have been considered in the country because of the risks related to disease
transmission (Hulse et al 2010). Some people are carriers of a particular hereditary disease
while others are greatly affected because of their changing lifestyle, for example, excessive
use of steroids and consumption of food containing large amount of cholesterols are risks
associated with passing the disease from one generation to another. Early screening and
treatment of the familial diseases are important for effective management.
Feasibility of applying the tool
Application of the Surgeon’s General tool is important in coming up with disease
trends and occurrence. Disease eradication is an inclusive procedure that requires
participation of all health stakeholders including patients, relatives of the patient, health
officers and other clients (Giovanni & Murray, 2010). Putting this tool into practice is crucial
because it has various beneficial factors with regard to the health of any given family. This
healthcare tool provides a portrait that enables the families to keep a record of their medical
history. The use of the modern technology has resulted in computerized system whereby an
individual is able to enter the information about the health history of his/her family, therefore,
allowing secure storage of the information. Adoption of the tool in the practice is also
essential in learning risks related to the conditions affecting the family (Valdez et al., 2010).
Successful application of the tool in the contemporary life should involve the participation of
all family members, therefore, it is important to provide the historical information to both
relatives and health officers.
Conclusion

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The Surgeon General tool is important and recommended for use in daily health
operations to improve the quality of healthcare provision to the families. A comprehensive
analysis of the genomic characteristics of all family members is important in diagnosis,
prediction disease-related risks and delivering appropriate treatment. A good understanding
of the tool enables the health provider and the family members to develop a picture of
diseases that affect the family and subsequent generations within the affected family lineage.

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References
Owens, K. M., Marvin, M. L., Gelehrter, T. D., Ruffin, M. T., & Uhlmann, W. R. (2011).
Clinical use of the Surgeon General’s “My Family Health Portrait” (MFHP) tool:
opinions of future health care providers. Journal of genetic counseling, 20(5), 510.
Rothman, D. J. (2017). Strangers at the bedside: a history of how law and bioethics
transformed medical decision making. Routledge.
Hulse, N. C., Wood, G. M., Haug, P. J., & Williams, M. S. (2010). Deriving consumer-facing
disease concepts for family health histories using multi-source sampling. Journal of
biomedical informatics, 43(5), 716-724.
Imes, C. C., & Lewis, F. M. (2014). Family history of cardiovascular disease (CVD),
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Brogan, K., Danford, C., Yeh, Y., & Jen, K. L. C. (2014). Cardiovascular disease risk factors
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Benros, M. E., Pedersen, M. G., Rasmussen, H., Eaton, W. W., Nordentoft, M., & Mortensen,
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Valdez, R., Yoon, P. W., Qureshi, N., Green, R. F., & Khoury, M. J. (2010). Family history
in public health practice: a genomic tool for disease prevention and health
promotion. Annual review of public health, 31, 69-87.

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Giovanni, M. A., & Murray, M. F. (2010). The Application of Computer‐Based Tools in
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