Public Health: Alarming Condition of Infectious Diseases in the US

This article discusses the burden of infectious diseases such as Measles, Ebola, Zika, Influenza, MERS in the US. It also highlights the cases, deaths, and preventive measures taken by the government.

Running head: PUBLIC HEALTH
Public Health
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PUBLIC HEALTH
Introduction
In recent times, different types of infectious disease is one of the alarming problems of US
and it is observed that, disease like Ebola, Zika, Influenza, MERS, Measles are affect ting the
health of the people in the country. In the year of 2014, the first outbreak of Ebola was
reported in the country. Along with this, the cases of ZIKA virus disease also affected the
country. This outbreak was also affected the country in that same year and it is assumed that,
the cases of the disease is associated with the travellers (CDC, 2019). Another infectious
disease that has also become a serious threat for the country is the influenza virus. According
to the report of CDC, the cases of measles is also another serious problems for the people of
US and thus it can be stated that, this issue must be addressed in a proper manner.
As a Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Association of State and
Territorial Health Officials (NACCHO), it is believed that the issue of enhanced cases of
infectious diseases such as Measles, Ebola, Zika, Influenza, MERS is the greatest challenge
that is faced by the people of the country.
Discussion
While discussing the burden of Influenza, in the country, it can be stated as per the report
of CDC that, since 2010, almost 9.3 million – 49 million are affected by this condition and
annually approximately 12000-79000 deaths were reported due to influenza in the country. In
the year of 2017-18, the numbers of death cases enhanced to 79000-99000 (CDC, 2019).
While analysing the impact of EBOLA in the country, it is reported that after detecting the
presence of EBOLA virus in one patient, a few cases of EBOLA was again reported by the
CDC officials. The report of CDC revealed that, during the West African outbreak of
EBOLA, approximately 11 cases of EBOLA were treated in US and among them 2 patients

2PUBLIC HEALTH
died due to this disease. However, it is reported that, most of the EBOLA infections came
from outside of US (CDC, 2019). Along with this, it is reported that, two nurses who are
engaged in the care processes of the EBOLA patients, also affected by this virus. As a part of
the prevention of the EBOLA virus in the country, a few measures are taken. For example,
they initiated the EBOLA vaccination program. Although, U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has not given licence to any drug to protect people from Ebola virus,
still an experimental virus named rVSV-ZEBOV are reported to be very effective and this
trial was conducted by World Health Organization (WHO) (CDC, 2019).
Zika virus infection is another area of concern for the people of US. As per the
information by CDC, it can be stated that, the this disease condition has now become a
nationally notifiable condition and in the year of 2018, approximately 74 cases Zika virus
were reported in the country and among them most of the cases that is approximately 73
cases came from outside of the country. In one cases, the disease was transmitted from the
laboratory exposures. In case of US territories , 148 cases of Zika virus infection were
reported and in this case only one case was transmitted from the outside of US and rest of the
cases were acquired from the local mosquito borne transmission incidents. While observing
the data of 2019, it is reported that, since 5th September, approximately 7 cases were acquired
by the travellers came from the infected areas to US. In the US territory regions only 2 cases
are reported related to the travellers and on the contrary, 32 cases were reported due to the
local mosquito-borne transmission (CDC, 2019).
Measles is another infectious disease that is threatening the public health condition of the
country in a great manner. From the report of CDC, it is observed that from January 1 to
September 19, 2019 there are approximately 1241 cases of measles have been reported in
United States (CDC, 2019). From the detail data, it is observed that, in the month of April,
there are 341 cases of measles and on the contrary, the in the month of August only 24 cases

3PUBLIC HEALTH
were reported (CDC, 2019). Therefore, it is reported that, most of the cases of measles
outbreak was reported in those areas where people are mainly unvaccinated. Since,
September 19, 2019, approximately 131 of measles patients were reported to be hospitalized
and among them approximately 65 patients had various complications such as pneumonia and
encephalitis due to this disease condition (CDC, 2019).
MERS is associated with a very low risk to the public health in this country and it is
reported by CDC that, only 2 patients in US has infected with this MERS-CoV infection in
the year of 2014. In that same year, almost 1300 people were found to be negative to the
MERS-CoV infection. Among the two cases of US, one case is reported in Indiana and
another case is reported in Florida. However, in both of these cases, the infected person came
from outside of the country. However, it should be treated with proper care as it can also
create serious threats to the public health. So, the government must take to proper prevention
plan for this disease so that the risks associate with this disease can be minimized (CDC,
2019).
Conclusion
Hence, it can be concluded that the cases of the infectious disease in the country is
alarming condition for the country. So, it is the high time to rethink about the condition of the
infectious disease. The main concern of the country associated with the infectious disease is
characterized by the disease outbreak and in this regard, the measles, influenza, EBOLA,
Zika outbreak can be mentioned. However, in case of a few disease, it can be stated that,
those diseases mainly come from outside of the country. Therefore, the people who are
infected are mostly unvaccinated. Therefore , it can be stated that, the burden of this
infectious disease is the most serious challenges to the public health of the country.

4PUBLIC HEALTH
References
CDC (2019). 2018 Case Counts of Zika. CDC. Retrieved from-
https://www.cdc.gov/zika/reporting/2018-case-counts.html [Accessed on 27th Sept 2019]
CDC (2019). 2019 Case Counts of Zika. CDC. Retrieved from-
https://www.cdc.gov/zika/reporting/2019-case-counts.html [Accessed on 27th Sept 2019]
CDC (2019). Measles Cases in 2019. CDC. Retrieved from- cdc.gov/measles/cases-
outbreaks.html [Accessed on 27th Sept 2019]
CDC (2019). MERS in the US. CDC. Retrieved from-
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/mers/us.html [Accessed on 27th Sept 2019]
CDC (2019). Zika in US. CDC. Retrieved from- https://www.cdc.gov/zika/geo/index.html
[Accessed on 27th Sept 2019]
CDC (2019). Zika Virus , Statistics and Maps. CDC. Retrieved from-
https://www.cdc.gov/zika/reporting/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F
%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fzika%2Freporting%2Fcase-counts.html [Accessed on 27th Sept
2019]
CDC (2019).Burden of Influenza. CDC. Retrieved from-
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html [Accessed on 27th Sept 2019]