Disease Transmission
Infectious vs. Noninfectious Diseases
Infectious and noninfectious diseases are very different; infectious diseases are caused through a pathogen that goes into a person’s body through physical contact directly, through an insect, or the air. Many pathogens live around humans, and some of these can cause diseases in humans. Once the pathogen that can cause a disease enters the body of a human it can then transfer from person to person. Noninfectious diseases, however, are not contagious (Difference Between Infectious and Noninfectious Disease, 2015).
A perfect example of an infectious disease is HIV and AIDs, which is a sexually transmitted infection that is passed by sexual contact with a person who is infected. HIV and AIDS is now considered an epidemic around the world today. HIV mutated in the 1930’s through the process of zoonoses, which allowed the disease to transfer from apes to humans. Once HIV enters the body it attacks the body’s immune system, especially the CD4 cells. Over time the count of CD4 cells drop, and once it reaches a certain point a person officially has AIDS (HIV/AIDS, 2017). The first protease inhibitor drug was introduced for the disease in 1995, and since then focus on the epidemic has shifted to third world countries and certain populations within America. To help with the epidemic in 2006 universal screenings guidelines for HIV were created to make AIDS a routine check within Americans (Battle, 2009).
Another example of an infectious disease is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This is a type of bacteria that has become resistant to many antibiotics, and in major healthcare settings severe problems, like bloodstream infections and pneumonia, can occur. It is spread through direct contact usually from an infected wound or contaminated hand (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, 2016). Other examples of infectious diseases that occurred through zoonoses are Ebola and tuberculosis. Those that can cause a disease can come from viruses, bacteria, fungi, or protozoa (Difference Between Infectious and Noninfectious Disease, 2015). As Battle discusses, an infectious disease is an “illness due to a specific infectious agent or its toxic products that arise through transmission of that agent or its products from an infected person, animal, or reservoir to a susceptible host” (Battle, 2009). On the other hand, noninfectious diseases are not caused by an organism or pathogen. Instead, these diseases come from a genetic, lifestyle, or environmental factor. Examples of these types of disease are the following: cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. These diseases can progress at a slow rate, but they can lead to rapid deaths. Deaths can occur from heart attacks and strokes, among other things (Difference Between Infectious and Noninfectious Disease, 2015). Thus, it is easy to see how different infectious and noninfectious diseases are.
Diabetes mellitus is a serious condition where there is an absence or an insufficient amount of insulin, which is a hormone that is produced in the pancreas that helps maintain the concentration of glucose. Because of this, diabetes is known as a glandular disease, and type 1 diabetes can also be considered an autoimmune disorder because the person’s immune system destroys its own insulin-producing cells. Instead of putting the body’s glucose to use, those who suffer from diabetes excrete a lot of their glucose in their urine (Noninfectious Diseases, 2016).
Modes of Transmission of Infectious and Noninfectious Diseases
With infectious diseases, the diseases can be spread in more than one way, and the modes of transmission can occur through ingestion, inhalation, passed from mother to child, or coming into contact with infected bodily fluids (Battle, 2009). Infected bodily fluid could occur through droplet contact, fecal to oral transmission, sexual contact, vector transmission, or other direct contact with someone who is infected. The droplet contact transmission can also be called the respiratory route, and this can be seen through a cough or sneeze that passes the microorganism from one person to another through an opening in the body, which can include the nose, mouth, or eye. As we have learned earlier, a vector is an organism that does not carry the disease. Instead, they are seen as someone in the middle who carries the disease and gives it to someone else. Noninfectious diseases, however, as discussed earlier, are not caused by a pathogen. They cannot be shared from one person to another in the same way infectious diseases can be because they are not contagious or communicable. With this said, some can be passed down genetically. As stated earlier, noninfectious diseases can also occur from environmental diseases (Noninfectious Diseases, 2016). Given this, several categories under noninfectious diseases have been created: genetic diseases, glandular diseases, like diabetes, dietary diseases, cancer, stress-related diseases, autoimmune diseases, and diseases with an unknown origin. Given this, both infectious and noninfectious diseases have multiple modes of transmission that public health professionals need to keep in mind.
Implication to Public Health Investigation
Infectious and noninfectious disease can be spread in multiple ways, so this has caused a continuous investigation for public health professionals. It is important for public health professionals to know how to prevent or stop the spread of a disease. Along with creating vaccinations, public health professionals can educate the public on how to prevent spreading disease. One of the most important and simplest ways is to educate techniques for proper hand washing. Other educational tips could revolve around not touching contaminated objects, covering when coughing, and staying home from work if one feels ill. All of these simple actions could spare a lot of people from being infected with the disease. One these simple actions are covered, public health professionals can continue to educate the public on other measures to take to prevent the spread of disease, such as protecting safe sex, not sharing needles, not sharing cups or chap sticks, and more (Battle, 2009).
Besides educating the public, one of the essential services public health officials and professionals need to do is diagnose and investigate the health hazards within their communities. If given the correct resources, health departments at the federal, state, and local level can perform these tasks with adequate training. It is important to note that concise and timely communication between each group and component is key for a good investigation surrounding an infection (Public Health Systems and Emerging Infections, 2000).
What Public Health Educational Tools or Programs Might be Helpful to Engage the Public in a Meaningful Dialogue
There are many tools and programs that public health professionals could use that might be helpful to engage the public in a meaningful dialogue concerning infectious and noninfectious diseases. One of these tools is using social media because many media tools are available for public health professionals, which includes blogs, virtual reality, and network platforms. Many people today spend their time online, so public health care professionals can use this to educate and promote public health ideas and topics to their community. They can answer questions, educate their patients, take care of their patient’s needs, and show current medical and health topics that are circulating. Even though this can be a great tool to use, potential risks could form. This risk revolves around the distribution of poor-quality information or breaching patient privacy. Given this, it will be important for public health professionals to use caution and only show resources that are approved and cited (Ventola, 2014).
Another tool public health professionals could use is to ban together organizations to campaign, protect, and improve the health of people in communities by “promoting national policies, developing resources and programs, seeking health equity, and supporting effective local public health practice and systems” (Hofrichter, 2008). Recently this has been done through the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). NACCHO is in collaboration with California News-reel to build support for help eliminate health inequities in the area. This was done by initially combining 100 local health department’s resources to educate the public about health equity. These, along with many other tools and programs, can help engage the public in meaningful discussions concerning infectious and noninfectious diseases.
References
Battle, C. U. (2009). Essentials of public health biology: a guide for the study of
pathophysiology. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
Difference Between Infectious and Noninfectious Disease.
(2015, July 07). Retrieved March 20, 2017, from https://healthresearchfunding.org/difference-between-infectious-and-noninfectious-disease/
HIV/AIDS. (2017, March 14). Retrieved March 20, 2017, from
https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/default.html
Hofrichter, R. (2008). NACCHO?s Health Equity Campaign. Journal of Public Health
Management and Practice, 14(1), 80-81. doi:10.1097/01.phh.0000303418.98765.28
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. (2016, May 16). Retrieved March 20, 2017, from
Noninfectious Diseases. (2016). Retrieved March 20, 2017,
from https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/noninfectious-diseases
Public Health Systems and Emerging Infections. (2000). doi:10.17226/9869
Ventola , C. L. (2014). Social Media and Health Care Professionals: Benefits, Risks, and Best
Practices. 39(7). Retrieved March 20, 2017.