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My project, the Automated Injection Device targets health workers across the world from being exposed to diseases such as influenza and Ebola when vaccinating the patients. This is crucial to society as if our medical personnel are exposed to diseases, patients will not be treated efficiently. On this page, I will post my SS Connection describing past events of the breakouts of diseases such as Influenza and Ebola, the impact on society, and how medical personnel were exposed, leading to conflicts and fear.
My project is based on the history of disease outbreaks such as Influenza and Ebola, and how medical personnel were affected through the patients. The 1918 Influenza breakout was one of the largest breakouts seen as it killed nearly 50 million people worldwide, and 675,000 in the U.S. Residents and soldiers died each day as it is one of the deadliest pandemic the world has seen. This disease did not only affect ordinary people but medical personnel as well. During the time, it was advised for nurses to wear masks when treating patients to save themselves from being exposed, yet many died trying to help others. Statistics showed that even though medical personnel did have low death rates compared to the patients’ death rates, the risk was very high.
Table found on http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1750-2659.2010.00195.x/full
Currently, the medical personnel wear protective suits when treating patients with infectious diseases. Yet, as shown in a Turkish Study in 2004, these protective suits do not protect completely as there is still a small chance to be exposed or injured through diseases or processes of treatment. An example can be seen in the recent outbreaks of Ebola, which had confirmed over 15,00 people actually having the disease. People throughout Africa were exposed, being one of the most devastating outbreaks that had occurred. Health workers, such as nurses were also exposed to Ebola as seen in the Amber Vinson and Nina Pham case in the United States while treating an Ebola patient, Thomas Duncan, in a Dallas, Texas hospital. Dr. Shaik Umar, a doctor treating Ebola patients in Africa, said that even with the suits, they were at risk not only for exposure, but needlestick injuries as well.
Diseases around the world and throughout U.S. History show us how dangerous the impact is on society when these diseases come around. Polio, Smallpox, Influenza, and the Yellow fever are just to name a few of these diseases that have took numerous lives. In order to stop these diseases and help patients with a cure, we need medical personnel to treat them and vaccinate. However, how can they be able to cure something that they themselves are at risk for? In every disease outbreak, when trying to cure patients, medical personnel die or get exposed. Now, even with vaccinations arising to cure patients, the protective suits they wear do not protect them. With my project, I will be able to completely restrict the exposure between the medical personnel that will allow them to help cure the patients that are in need when diseases do arise, and can hopefully lower death rates if future epidemics do come.
Work Cited
Byerly, Carol R. "The U.S. Military and the Influenza Pandemic of 1918–1919." Public Health Reports. Association of Schools of Public Health, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2015. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/>.
"Pandemic Flu History." Pandemic Flu History. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2015. <http://www.flu.gov/pandemic/history/>.
"Low but Highly Variable Mortality among Nurses and Physicians during the Influenza Pandemic of 1918–1919." N.p., 31 Jan. 2011. Web. 3 Dec. 2015. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1750-2659.2010.00195.x/full>.
"The Journal of Infectious Diseases." The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Insights for the 21st Century. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2015. <http://jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/195/7/1018.long>.
"HIV-Disease." History of Plagues. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2015. <http://uhavax.hartford.edu/bugl/histepi.htm>.
"Ebola Virus Disease Cases Among Health Care Workers Not Working in Ebola Treatment Units — Liberia, June–August, 2014." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14 Nov. 2014. Web. 03 Dec. 2015. <http://www.cdc.gov/MMWr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm63e1114a3.htm>.
"10 Worst Outbreaks in U.S. History." Healthline. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2015. <http://www.healthline.com/health/worst-disease-outbreaks-history#Overview1>.
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