Communicable Disease

Author(s):  
Wendy E. Parmet

This chapter explores the key features of American infectious disease law. The history of health law in the United States begins with the colonial laws that responded to the epidemics of smallpox, yellow fever, and other infectious diseases that regularly devastated the North American colonies. In the twentieth century, as the fear of infection declined, courts began to provide greater protections for individuals and vulnerable populations subjected to infectious disease laws. Moreover, the federal government began to play a more prominent and complex role in the control of infectious diseases. The chapter then looks at the allocation of authority between the states and federal government with respect to infectious disease control. It also discusses the role that restraint on individual rights plays in infectious disease control and the limits that the US Constitution and civil rights laws place on such restraints. The chapter also considers some of the specific tools that jurisdictions employ in response to infectious disease. It concludes with a brief discussion of the United States' role in global public health.

Author(s):  
Anna Kirkland

In Vaccine Court, Anna Kirkland tells the story of how a special no-fault compensation court in the United States handles very controversial claims that a vaccine has harmed someone. Vaccines are an important part of infectious disease control in our society and also touch us in very personal ways. While vaccines overall are extremely safe and effective, some people still suffer severe vaccine reactions and bring their claims to vaccine court. In this court, lawyers, activists, judges, doctors, and scientists come together, sometimes arguing bitterly, to determine whether a vaccine truly caused a person’s medical problem. Vaccine Court draws on the court rulings, observations at the court, and previously unstudied primary sources spanning the thirty years of the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to ask how we know a vaccine injury. Despite all the controversy swirling around vaccines, this special court provides a place for reasoned argument and consideration of a range of evidence and perspectives that ultimately support the crucial role vaccines play in our society while also doing justice to people who have been harmed.


2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Atresha Karra, JD ◽  
Emily Cornette, JD

This article focuses on the existing methods for tracking and restricting the spread of communicable diseases, both within United States borders and across nations. It will first describe the roles played by the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization and will then explore how communicable diseases across the world are identified and monitored. This will be followed by a discussion of US and world reporting requirements and methods. Finally, the article will discuss the tactics used by the United States to control the spread of disease.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 733-734
Author(s):  
Sumio Shinoda

The Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) is a Japanese government program that promotes international joint research. The program is structured as a collaboration between the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The program includes various fields, such as Environment and Energy, Bioresources, Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, and Infectious Disease Control, and a total 52 projects were currently in progress as of May, 2018. It is expected that the promotion of international joint research under this program will enable Japanese research institutions to conduct research more effectively in fields and having targets that make it advantageous to do that research in developing countries, including countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa. Recently, SATREPS projects in the field of Infectious Disease have been but under the control of the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED). Although adult maladies, such as malignant tumors, heart disease, and cerebral apoplexy, are major causes of death in the developed countries including Japan, infectious diseases are still responsible for the high mortality rates in developing countries. Therefore, Infectious Disease Control is the important field of SATREPS. Infectious Disease Control projects are progressing in several countries, including Kenya, Zambia, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Brazil, and various infectious diseases and pathogens have been targeted. In this special issue on Infectious Disease Control, the following reports from three projects have been selected: “The JICA-AMED SATREPS Project to Control Outbreaks of Yellow Fever and Rift Valley Fever in Kenya” by Nagasaki University, “Comprehensive Etiological and Epidemiological Study on Acute Respiratory Infections in Children in the Philippines” by Tohoku University, and “International Joint Research on Antifungal Resistant Fungi in Brazil” by Chiba University. These projects include viral, bacterial, and fungal infections. If they become available, further supplementary reports from other projects in this field will be published in a future issue.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 296-303
Author(s):  
Janine M. Jason

Infant mortality rates in the United States are higher than in any other developed country. Low birth weight (LBW) is the primary determinant of infant mortality. Despite city, state, and federal programs to prevent LBW, decreases in infant mortality in the 1980s appear to be largely secondary to improved survival of LBW infants rather than to a decline in the rate of LBW births. Because prevention of mortality due to infectious disease is feasible, it was of interest to examine the role of infectious diseases in LBW infant mortality. US vital statistics mortality data for 1968 through 1982 were analyzed in terms of LBW infant mortality associated with infectious and noninfectious diseases. These analyses indicated that the rates of infectious disease-associated early neonatal and postneonatal LBW mortality increased during this time; late neonatal rates did not decline appreciably. Infectious diseases were associated with 4% of all LBW infant deaths in 1968; this had increased to 10% by 1982. Although LBW infant mortality rates associated with noninfectious diseases did not differ for white and black populations, infectious disease-associated mortality rates were consistently higher for blacks than whites in both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. Chorioamnionitis was involved in 28% of infectious disease-associated early neonatal LBW deaths. Sepsis was an increasingly listed cause of death in all infant age periods, whereas respiratory tract infections were decreasingly listed. Necrotizing enterocolitis increased as a cause of late neonatal mortality. These data suggest that infectious diseases are an increasing cause of LBW infant mortality and these deaths occur more frequently in the black population targeted by prevention programs. More research concerning specific causes and prevention of infections in the LBW infant may help reduce US infant mortality.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-315
Author(s):  
Edward A. Mortimer

This new edition of a well-known text begins with approximately 100 pages of general information regarding immunity, epidemiology, preventive measures, and chemotherapy in infectious disease. This section is useful because most of it is succinct and accurate, and gives the reader an overall view of certain important aspects of infectious disease control. The part on chemotherapy is excellent but it is lengthy and detailed, and therefore serves more as a reference than as a chapter one would sit down to read in an evening.


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