Hepatitis B Case Study

Epidemiology of Hepatitis B
Sara Sarraf
Grand Canyon University
Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases
NRS-427V
Sandra White
July 3, 2014
Epidemiology Hepatitis B
We have come far in healthcare and everyday we get closer to solutions and can succeed in the understanding of disease processes unknown and foreign to us. We have been challenged many times by the illnesses that have taken so many lives but never in vain as when this unfortunate event has happened we have been able to get closer to a solution. The many diseases that have been a main factor in causing death are many however; we have come far in the vaccination process and treatments. In this paper we will focus on Hepatitis B. The virus that has been around
By researching around the epidemiology triangle for Hepatitis B we can understand that there is an agent, which in this case would be the HBV (virus), which, then will infect the host (a human). Vertex number three is the environmental factor researches pertain to as “where”, the condition of the host, the outside factors causing the agent to reside on host and infect it. For hepatitis B we have confirmed that all the factors exist. The agent (HBV) will enter the host whom would be the human blood cells, in other words, HBV infection is caused by the virus which will penetrate in to the cell and release its genome into it. As we will not go into the details of the viral life cycle but including that per the journal by Lu X and Block Timothy, in their research, “ Study of early steps of hepatitis B life cycle” they report that the virus will infect its host by three stages called; attachment, fusion and entry. The research is still ongoing on the specifics of the complete cycle of the HBV (Lu & Block, 2004). The environmental factor includes dried blood on surfaces, which is infected, and if another person will have contact with it. Another environmental situation can be the needles found on streets used by drug users whom can have been infected as well. When
As nurses are to advocate for their community it is also a responsibility for some to step up in their role and collect data and analyze the case findings within the community. In this regard it is important and in many cases also a requirement for a nurse to obtain a baccalaureate degree in nursing and to then establish partnership and collaboration with public health professionals. It is important for the public health nurse to involve the community and their awareness on public safety, vaccination and prevention of diseases. Some ways a public health nurse can participate is to help clinics control communicable diseases, educate and participate in environmental sanitation, health education including schools as well. To control and manage results, increase or decrease of disease within the community, a nurse could for example collect data by questionnaires. Another way would be to collaborate with laboratories by collecting data and assessing the results Furthermore, nurses should follow up with every patient who might have been infected or could be at risk for infection by doing home calls or call patients back to assess results and contribute further in