Prevention of communicable disease

A communicable disease is one that can be transmitted from one person to another, is caused by an agent that is infectious and is transmitted from a source, or reservoir to a susceptible host.

Prevention and control of infections and contagious diseases are the foundations of all public health measures. There are three key factors in the control of communicable disease are as follows:
*The removal, elimination or containment of the cause or source of infection
*The disruption and blockage of the chain of disease transmission
*The protection of the susceptible population from infection and disease

The goal of prevention and control programs is to reduce the prevalence of a disease to a level at which it no longer poses a major public health problem.

The methods of prevention and control are used in several fronts. The first front is the environment, the second is the person at risk and the third front is the population or community.

Immunization is one of the most accepted and cost-effective preventive health practices in the United States. Since the 1950s, vaccines have prevented countless days of illness and hundreds of thousands of deaths.
Prevention of communicable disease

Acinetobacter infection in hospital

Acinetobacter shares several features with other forms of gram-negative infection. Bacteremic patients present with fever and hypotension; patients rarely are asymptomatic. It is now recognized that Acinetobacter strains play significant role in colonization and infection of patients admitted to hospital intensive care units (ICUs).

The predominant sites of Acinetobacter nosocomial infections have varied with time in early observations, urinary tract infections were predominantly in ICUs.

They may be recovered from the hospital environment, from colonized or infected patients and from the hands of staff.

Acinetobacter has been isolated from various types of opportunistic infection, including septicemia, pneumonia, endocarditis, meningitis, skin and wound sepsis, and urinary tract infection.

These organisms are frequently pandrug-resistant and are capable of causing substantial morbidity and mortality on patients with severe underlying disease, both in hospital and in the community.

Several factors are associated with occurrence of Acinetobacter infection:
*Factors related to the environment, previously contaminated by the organism – contaminated materials, mattresses, ventilators, water bath
*Factors related to the patients – age, prolonged hospitalization
*The role of selective pressure of antibiotics

Inadequate de contamination of ventilator equipment and infrequent changing of gloves by personnel have been identified as the cause of the outbreaks.

A pediatric outbreak of Acinetobacter bacteremia has been associated with contaminant air conditioner with aerosohzation of the organism.
Acinetobacter infections in hospital