The Concepts of Epidemiology and Nursing Research to a Communicable Disease

Epidemiology of Communicable Diseases – HIV/AIDS
Name:
Institution:
Course Code:
Name”
Describe the chosen communicable disease, including causes, symptoms, mode of transmission, complications, treatment, and the demographic of interest (mortality, morbidity, incidence, and prevalence). Is this a reportable disease? If so, provide details about reporting time, whom to report to, etc. Causes HIV is Human Immunodeficiency Virus. According to the CDC, HIV is a zoonotic disease that came from chimpanzees in central Africa when humans hunted them for meat (CDC, 2021). HIV is similar to SIV Simian immunodeficiency virus, which is the chimpanzee version of the disease (CDC, 2021). The disease spread to the rest of the world, and it has been in America since at least the mid to late 1970s. Symptoms Some of the known symptoms of the disease are; sweating at night, mouth ulcers chills. Muscle aches. Fatigue, rashes. Fever and swollen lymph nodes. Mode of transmission Sexual contact is one of the modes of transmission of the disease. Needles and sharing of sharp personal objects like nail clippers etc., can lead to transmission. Mothers can also infect their children during pregnancy, at birth, and through breastfeeding. Blood transfusion with infected blood though proper screening and testing of donors has reduced this mode of transmission.  Complications HIV causes AIDS. AIDS is Acquired immune deficiency Syndrome. As HIV attacks the immune system. It weakens the immunity of the individual, which causes AIDS. The patient becomes susceptible to other diseases as he/she has a diminished ability to fight off other disease agents. However, it is important to note that there is a window between when an individual is infected and the onset of AIDS. Treatment Once you contract HIV, it is almost impossible to get healed from it. Fe individuals around the world have been healed, but their experimental treatment regimen has not been approved for public use. However, there are Anti-HIV drugs in the market that can help improve the quality of life and restore healthy immune levels. However, there is no vaccine or cure for HIV/AIDS. Mortality, morbidity, incidence, and prevalence of HIV/AIDS HIV/AIDS-related deaths have reduced by 50% since when they peaked in the early 2000s (Gona, et al., 2020). Infection and transmission rates continue to fall. About 38 million people live with the disease globally, and about 680,000 people died from it in 2020 from AIDS-related illnesses (UNICEF, 2021). There are approximately 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the US, and nearly 13% of them do not know their status. It disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minorities and the LGBTQ (HIV.gov, 2021). Reporting of HIV/AIDS Many countries and governments have reporting structures of the disease to track and understand the development of HIV/AIDS in their respective communities. Each new infection is reported to the government, and in most cases, the individual is linked to care. Hospitals and agencies focus on different facets of tracking and reporting on the disease report and share the information with other partners and the governments to continue developing data on the disease.   HIV/AIDS among LGBTQ in America HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects gay people in America. Gay and bisexual men made up an estimated 2% of the U.S. population in 2013, but 55% of all people living with HIV in the United States. This is a chilling statistic for a small group of roughly 2% of the American population.   Source: /nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/cdc-msm-508.pdf Contributing over 55% of diagnoses for a certain disease highlights the problem in the country. It is estimated that 1 in 6 gay and bisexual men will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime. Additionally, there are also historical and ongoing health inequalities affecting this group. Minorities, especially Latino and black Americans, are at a higher disadvantage because they are more likely to contract HIV. 1 in 4 Latino gay and bisexual man is likely to contract HIV. In contrast, 1 in 2 black American gay and bisexual men are likely to get it. This means that at least 25% and 50% of Latino and black American gay and bisexual men will contract HIV in their lifetime.   Describe the social determinants of health and explain how those factors contribute to the development of this disease. One of the major social determinants of health for HIV among this demographic is social and community support. Members in this group have continually been failed by their respective communities by stigmatizing their sexual orientation, outlawing homosexual activity, and denying them rights available to heterosexual individuals such as healthcare. Though the country has been moving towards more inclusivity and rights for the LGBTQ, there is still stigma towards this group. Some countries have outlawed homosexual marriage, and others confer individuals in this group less rights, especially in healthcare. Recently, president trump sought to end healthcare provisions for members of LGBTQ serving in the military (NBC News, 2019). Secondly, access and quality of healthcare. Discrimination denies members of this group the respective support to lower their infection rates and help them live with HIV in their lifetime. The negative attitude towards this group makes it hard and sometimes impossible for them to access important healthcare services such as getting tested or accessing anti-HIV drugs. Social and community factors play a huge role in mobilizing help for the community, which has long been discriminated against and stigmatized for their sexual orientation. Discuss the epidemiologic triangle related to the communicable disease you have selected. Include the host factors, agent factors (presence or absence), and environmental factors Explain the role of the community health nurse (case finding, reporting, data collection, data analysis, and follow-up) and why demographic data are necessary to the health of the community. Case finding – community nurses, are mostly field-based. They work within the community through programs designed to sensitize the public on certain diseases and how to prevent and or report them to relevant authorities. In the case of HIV, community health nurses can encourage individuals to be tested, which can lead to case findings. By working with patients diagnosed with HIV, community health nurses can also encourage the patient to encourage his friends and contact-trace other individuals who may be infected. Community health nurses also report on their programs to their respective reporting structures. Community nurses based in hospitals or other healthcare facilities report to their employers, who relay the data to the government and other agencies interested in it. Those employed by agencies and or government report the data to their respective agencies for analysis and compilation. Therefore, community health nurses collect firsthand data from the field and report to the respective authorities for further action. Community health nurses are also involved in data collection on diseases. They are part of multi-professional teams that design and implement plans to collect data. They can also be on the field collecting the data and analyzing it. In some cases, they hold supervisory roles to teams of data collectors and train them on how to collect the data. Community health nurses also play an important role in data analysis. They are trained in data analysis and can help determine trends and find patterns presented by the data. In their training, they have been taught some research skills to analyze data. Community health nurses also help in follow-up. Once they find new cases, they can become the primary contact point with the pat...