Communicable Disease Paper

This paper will be discussing what MRSA is and the efforts that are being made to control it. It will also be discussing the environmental factors that are related to this disease. Other factors that will be discussed will be to explain the influence that lifestyles, socioeconomic status and disease management play and what the public health department is doing to reduce the threat this disease poses. Lastly this paper will be discussing how to identify gaps and how links can be made to other resources to meet the needs that cannot be met locally. It will also include what recommendations can be made to expand the programs within the community to meet these needs if there are gaps in service

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus or MRSA are staph bacteria that are commonly found on the skin and in the nose of healthy people. In some cases when not treated properly, MRSA can cause infections that are more serious, for example, pneumonia and bloodstream infections. Since MRSA has developed resistance to the beta-lactams class of antibiotics it is harder to treat than most infections. Due to this fact MRSA infections usually respond to the draining of the by a health care professional and the use of antibiotics. There are two different types of MRSA, they are hospital-associated MRSA and community-associated MRSA. Hospital-associated MRSA is acquired in the hospital and community-associated MRSA is acquired in the community generally among young people with cuts that have close contact with others, for example, football or baseball teams. So the main thing that people need to know about MRSA is how it is spread. MRSA is spread through direct physical contact with a person that is infected with it. MRSA can also be spread by contact with contaminated items or surfaces as well.

Unless a person with MRSA has pneumonia it cannot be spread by a person coughing. When it comes to MRSA lifestyles and socioeconomic status do not really play a big part as MRSA can effect anyone. When it comes to disease management there are a lot of things that can be done by community members and the health department. The main things that the community needs to do to prevent MRSA are to always maintain good hand and body hygiene, especially after exercise, keep any and all cuts, scrapes, and wounds clean and covered until healed, do not share personal items such as towels and razors, get care as early as possible if you think you might have an infection. The health department’s responsibility is to track all cases of MRSA and to share this information with the appropriate agencies and to provide the community of ways to prevent themselves from getting MRSA. The local health department where this author lives has information and links posted on the counties web page for the Center for Disease Control and the New York State Department of Health to gain more information about the two different types of MRSA. There are many ways that we can identify gaps in service when it comes to public health.

First we need to use data collection and partnership formations between health care, public health and community organizations. Once this is done we need to do an assessment to make sure we have appropriate data. This means we need to go through all of the data and identify priority health issues to be able to develop comprehensive strategies to deal with these health issues. Next we will need to identify and bridge these gaps in order to take any actions that need taken. To do this we will need to prepare and enact environmental and policy changes before we will be able to coordinate community and clinical prevention activities. After all of these things are done we need to check the outcomes to ensure that there is improved health, cost savings for the community and see if there is an evidence-base for effective practices. . When there are situations when a community does not offer the services that are needed it would be a good idea for the community to have or form a strategic alliance with other health care providers or clinics that do offer the services that are needed so they can give the patient a referral to go there.

Communities can also become more technologically involved so that they can have access to other health care facilities that can offer the services that are needed as well. Another way to bridge these gaps is to offer the professionals that are needed incentives to move into the area as well. While MRSA has become a very serious problem in many communities across the country and around the world it is a preventable disease. If the right precautions are taken a person can go their whole live without ever having it. By communities having the right services available most people will have access to the right information and services so that they can prevent most health related issues. When a community is on top of the situation and makes takes the necessary steps to make sure they have the proper kinds of services in place they will have a community that is prepared for anything.

References

Division of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) . Retrieved from http://www.acphd.org/mrsa.aspx

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Infections. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mrsa/community/index.html

Zeller, John L,M.D., PhD. (2011). MRSA infections. JAMA, 306(16), 1818. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/904405861?accountid=458