Diphtheria Antitoxin and Tales of Mercy in Northern Health Care

2021 ◽  
pp. e491112020
Author(s):  
Liza Piper
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Northwest Territories ◽  
Cause Of Death ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Diphtheria Antitoxin ◽  
History Of ◽  
Northern Territories ◽  
Insight Into

This article examines the history of diphtheria in the Yukon and the Mackenzie district of the Northwest Territories in the first half of the 20th century. This analysis follows the traces of this now largely forgotten disease and its treatment to illuminate the constraints – intrinsic and constructed – on the provision of health care commensurate with the expectations and needs of northern Indigenous peoples. While diphtheria was never the most serious infectious disease, nor a major cause of death compared with tuberculosis or influenza at this time, examining its history offers significant insight into the creation of medical and public health infrastructures in Canada’s northern territories, and the ways in which those infrastructures served, or failed to serve, different northern populations.

scholarly journals Dutch Public health Foresight study 2018/20

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
H Hilderink
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Expenditures ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
National Prevention ◽  
Business As Usual ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract The four-year Public Health Foresight Study (VTV) provides insight into the most important societal challenges for public health and health care in the Netherlands. The seventh edition of the Dutch Public Health Foresight study was published in 2018, with an update in 2020. In this update a business-as-usual or Trend Scenario was developed using 2018 as a base year. In the trend scenario demographic and epidemiological projections have been used to depict the future trends regarding ageing, health, disease, health behaviors, health expenditures and health inequalities. Next, these trends are used to identify the most important future challenges and opportunities for public health. In the 2020 update, special attentions is given to climate change and the local living environment and their impacts and interaction with public health outcomes. Trends in lifestyle-related lifestyle show both positive (smoking prevalence) and negative (overweight prevalence) future developments. Dementia will be the leading cause of mortality and disease burden in 2040 by far. Health care expenditures will double by 2040, with cancers showing the most rapid growth of all disease groups. The insights of this study are directly used as input for the National Health Policy Memorandum and for the National Prevention Accord.

scholarly journals Innovative COVID-19 Programs to Rapidly Serve New Mexico

2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-46
Author(s):  
Joanna G. Katzman ◽  
Laura E. Tomedi ◽  
Karla Thornton ◽  
Paige Menking ◽  
Michael Stanton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Critical Care ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
General Education ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Healthcare Outcomes ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Project Echo

Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) at the University of New Mexico is a telementoring program that uses videoconferencing technology to connect health care providers in underserved communities with subject matter experts. In March 2020, Project ECHO created 10 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) telementoring programs to meet the public health needs of clinicians and teachers living in underserved rural and urban regions of New Mexico. The newly created COVID-19 programs include 7 weekly sessions (Community Health Worker [in English and Spanish], Critical Care, Education, First-Responder Resiliency, Infectious Disease Office Hours, and Multi-specialty) and 3 one-day special sessions. We calculated the total number of attendees, along with the range and standard deviation, per session by program. Certain programs (Critical Care, Infectious Disease Office Hours, Multi-specialty) recorded the profession of attendees when available. The Project ECHO research team collected COVID-19 infection data by county from March 11 through May 31, 2020. During that same period, 9765 health care and general education professionals participated in the COVID-19 programs, and participants from 31 of 35 (89%) counties in New Mexico attended the sessions. Our initial evaluation of these programs demonstrates that an interprofessional clinician group and teachers used the Project ECHO network to build a community of practice and social network while meeting their educational and professional needs. Because of Project ECHO’s large reach, the results of the New Mexico COVID-19 response suggest that the rapid use of ECHO telementoring could be used for other urgent national public health problems.

scholarly journals Patterns of smallpox mortality in London, England, over three centuries

PLoS Biology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. e3000506
Author(s):  
Olga Krylova ◽  
David J. D. Earn
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Spectral Analysis ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Control

Smallpox is unique among infectious diseases in the degree to which it devastated human populations, its long history of control interventions, and the fact that it has been successfully eradicated. Mortality from smallpox in London, England was carefully documented, weekly, for nearly 300 years, providing a rare and valuable source for the study of ecology and evolution of infectious disease. We describe and analyze smallpox mortality in London from 1664 to 1930. We digitized the weekly records published in the London Bills of Mortality (LBoM) and the Registrar General’s Weekly Returns (RGWRs). We annotated the resulting time series with a sequence of historical events that might have influenced smallpox dynamics in London. We present a spectral analysis that reveals how periodicities in reported smallpox mortality changed over decades and centuries; many of these changes in epidemic patterns are correlated with changes in control interventions and public health policies. We also examine how the seasonality of reported smallpox mortality changed from the 17th to 20th centuries in London.

Challenges of Designing and Implementing High Consequence Infectious Disease Response

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 563-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan M. King ◽  
Chetan Tiwari ◽  
Armin R. Mikler ◽  
Martin O’Neill
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Spatial Configuration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Disease Response ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
State And Local

AbstractEbola is a high consequence infectious disease—a disease with the potential to cause outbreaks, epidemics, or pandemics with deadly possibilities, highly infectious, pathogenic, and virulent. Ebola’s first reported cases in the United States in September 2014 led to the development of preparedness capabilities for the mitigation of possible rapid outbreaks, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) providing guidelines to assist public health officials in infectious disease response planning. These guidelines include broad goals for state and local agencies and detailed information concerning the types of resources needed at health care facilities. However, the spatial configuration of populations and existing health care facilities is neglected. An incomplete understanding of the demand landscape may result in an inefficient and inequitable allocation of resources to populations. Hence, this paper examines challenges in implementing CDC’s guidance for Ebola preparedness and mitigation in the context of geospatial allocation of health resources and discusses possible strategies for addressing such challenges. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:563–566)

scholarly journals Foundations of the aspect of health care and two hundred years since the birth of Florence Nightingale 1820-1910

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 83-90
Author(s):  
Damir Peličić
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Nursing Profession ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Council ◽  
Florence Nightingale ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 19Th Century

Nursery has existed throughout history and it dates back to the very beginning of humankind. It was mentioned in church books and other written texts but not as a skill or science, but as an occupation reserved for the members of monastic orders, and also for women, that is, mothers, and nuns. First, nursing was an occupation, then a skill, but at the end of the 20th century, it became a scientific discipline. Florence Nightingale is certainly one of the most significant women in the history of nursing, medicine, and society in general because she is the pioneer of the nursing profession that has continuity up to nowadays. She was born on May 12, 1820, in Florence, Italy and died on August 13, 1910, in London. Florence Nightingale worked as a nurse, organizer, researcher, statistician, reformer, writer and a teacher. She reformed nursery and public health. In 1860, she established the school for nurses within St. Thomas' Hospital and she took care of every protégé. In spite of all obstacles, which she was faced with, and the unenviable position of women in the 19th century, she made a huge move that changed the context of this profession forever. She had a huge influence on the Swiss philanthropist Henry Dunant (1828-1910), who was the founder of the Red Cross. In 1867, the International Council of Nurses proclaimed that her birthday would be the International Nurses Day. She was the first woman who was awarded the Medal of virtues. In 1908, she was conferred the Order of Merit by King Edward. She wrote more than 200 books and the Pledge.

scholarly journals If long-term suppression is not possible, how do we minimize mortality for COVID-19 and other emerging infectious disease outbreaks?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Handel ◽  
Joel C. Miller ◽  
Yang Ge ◽  
Isaac Chun-Hai Fung
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Public Health Interventions ◽  
Infectious Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Long Time

As COVID-19 continues to spread, public health interventions are crucial to minimize its impact. The most desirable goal is to drive the pathogen quickly to extinction. This generally involves applying interventions as strongly as possible, which worked for SARS, but so far has failed for COVID-19. If fast eradication is not achievable, the next best goal is to delay the spread and minimize cases and burden on the health care system until suitable drugs or vaccines are available. This suppression approach also calls for strong interventions, potentially applied for a long time.

Addiction and Heroin-Assisted Treatment: Legal Discourse and Drug Reform

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Boyd ◽  
Alexa Norton
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
British Columbia ◽  
Drug Research ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Heroin Addiction ◽  
Care Society ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
History Of ◽  
Drug Prohibition

This article analyzes the arguments put forth over a 3-day period at an injunction hearing, Providence Health Care Society v. Canada, held March 13–15, 2014 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The plaintiffs sought broad interlocutory relief from the Court for the provision of prescription heroin if requested by their physicians. This article fills an identified gap in scholarship by analyzing the civil Charter challenge, including the notice of civil claim, injunction court transcripts, judgment, and individual plaintiffs’ affidavits. We draw from Canada’s unique history of drug prohibition and critical drug research to contextualize our analysis and findings. We argue that the lives of people using criminalized drugs, such as heroin, are affected by legal realms that produce ideas about heroin, addiction, and criminality that ultimately impact public health policies and treatment initiatives.

History of Infectious Diseases

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Maria Ines Zanoli Sato
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Emerging Pathogens ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
History Of

This chapter provides a review of infectious disease to date and the challenges they may present in the future. The main pandemics that have driven the history of humanity are described, from the first to be recorded in 3180 BC to more recent ones such as AIDIS, SARS and others associated with emerging pathogens. The essential role of emerging scientific specialisms (particularly microbiology, public health and sanitary engineering) to our understanding of the causes of these diseases (and how they may be better monitored, controlled and prevented) is presented. Globalization and climate change, determining factors for the ecology of infectious diseases and their emergence and re-emergence, are discussed and point to the urgent need for research to deal with these threats that continue to have a significant impact on human development and wellbeing.

scholarly journals A Plague of Kinyounism: The Caricatures of Bacteriology in 1900 San Francisco

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 489-514
Author(s):  
Lukas Engelmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Disease Diagnosis ◽  
Hospital Service ◽  
Bubonic Plague ◽  
Laboratory Methods ◽  
History Of ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract The arrival of bubonic plague in San Francisco in 1900 has become a pivotal case study in the history of American public health. The presence of plague remained contested for months as the evidence provided by the federal bacteriologist Joseph Kinyoun of the Marine Hospital Service was rejected, his laboratory methods disputed and his person ridiculed. Before the disease diagnosis became widely accepted, Kinyoun had been subjected to public caricature; his expensive and disruptive pragmatics for containing the epidemic were ridiculed as a plague of ‘Kinyounism’. Not only does this history offer insight into the difficult and contradictory ways in which bacteriology became an established science, it also provides an early twentieth-century example of ‘politicised science’. This paper revisits the controversy around Kinyoun and his bacteriological practice through the lens of caricature to sharpen the historical understanding of the shifting and shifty relationships between science, medicine, public health and politics.

The Perils of Panic

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 223-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Sinha ◽  
Wendy E. Parmet
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
United States ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Emerging Infectious Diseases ◽  
The Past ◽  
Aids Epidemic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Deadly Disease ◽  
The Relationship

This Article explores the connections between emerging infectious diseases, domestic disease panics, global health, and the law by comparing the American response to Ebola to the initial American response to the AIDS epidemic. We demonstrate that in both cases the arrival of a new deadly disease was initially met with fear, stigma and the use of law to “other” those associated with the disease. We begin by reviewing the initial responses to the AIDS epidemic. We then offer a brief history of emerging infectious disease scares over the past few decades, highlighting the problematic rhetoric that paved the way for the Ebola panic. We then review the 2014 Ebola outbreak, noting its similarities and distinctions from the early AIDS epidemic. Finally, we examine United States policies regarding HIV and Ebola in Africa. We conclude with some tentative observations about the relationship between germ panics, law, and public health.

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