The Great Canadian Outbreaks
The Great Canadian Outbreaks

Author: Nevio Cimolai

Publisher: FriesenPress

Published: 2018-03-22

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1525522590

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

What do a rowing coach, lawyer, First Nation’s aboriginal, hockey manager, business woman, and medical resident have in common? – The Great Canadian Outbreaks How many infectious outbreaks will you experience in a lifetime? How do Canadians behave during an outbreak, and how do they respond thereafter? The Great Canadian Outbreaks presents ten short stories each depicting a unique infectious outbreak from across Canada in various historic times. These fictional vignettes capture the essence of factual events as diverse as the social fabric of our country. Each story is followed by a lay description of the pertinent science and epidemiology in these outbreak scenarios. We live in a microbial world where there is ample opportunity for human infection. If our flavour as a nation can be captured by great Canadian bacon or curling or wheat or beer or hockey, what would we be without The Great Canadian Outbreaks?

Learning from SARS
Learning from SARS

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2004-04-26

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 0309182158

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in late 2002 and 2003 challenged the global public health community to confront a novel epidemic that spread rapidly from its origins in southern China until it had reached more than 25 other countries within a matter of months. In addition to the number of patients infected with the SARS virus, the disease had profound economic and political repercussions in many of the affected regions. Recent reports of isolated new SARS cases and a fear that the disease could reemerge and spread have put public health officials on high alert for any indications of possible new outbreaks. This report examines the response to SARS by public health systems in individual countries, the biology of the SARS coronavirus and related coronaviruses in animals, the economic and political fallout of the SARS epidemic, quarantine law and other public health measures that apply to combating infectious diseases, and the role of international organizations and scientific cooperation in halting the spread of SARS. The report provides an illuminating survey of findings from the epidemic, along with an assessment of what might be needed in order to contain any future outbreaks of SARS or other emerging infections.

The Threat of Pandemic Influenza
The Threat of Pandemic Influenza

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2005-04-09

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 0309095042

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Public health officials and organizations around the world remain on high alert because of increasing concerns about the prospect of an influenza pandemic, which many experts believe to be inevitable. Moreover, recent problems with the availability and strain-specificity of vaccine for annual flu epidemics in some countries and the rise of pandemic strains of avian flu in disparate geographic regions have alarmed experts about the world's ability to prevent or contain a human pandemic. The workshop summary, The Threat of Pandemic Influenza: Are We Ready? addresses these urgent concerns. The report describes what steps the United States and other countries have taken thus far to prepare for the next outbreak of "killer flu." It also looks at gaps in readiness, including hospitals' inability to absorb a surge of patients and many nations' incapacity to monitor and detect flu outbreaks. The report points to the need for international agreements to share flu vaccine and antiviral stockpiles to ensure that the 88 percent of nations that cannot manufacture or stockpile these products have access to them. It chronicles the toll of the H5N1 strain of avian flu currently circulating among poultry in many parts of Asia, which now accounts for the culling of millions of birds and the death of at least 50 persons. And it compares the costs of preparations with the costs of illness and death that could arise during an outbreak.

The Ebola Epidemic in West Africa
The Ebola Epidemic in West Africa

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2016-12-30

Total Pages: 137

ISBN-13: 0309450063

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The most recent Ebola epidemic that began in late 2013 alerted the entire world to the gaps in infectious disease emergency preparedness and response. The regional outbreak that progressed to a significant public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) in a matter of months killed 11,310 and infected more than 28,616. While this outbreak bears some unique distinctions to past outbreaks, many characteristics remain the same and contributed to tragic loss of human life and unnecessary expenditure of capital: insufficient knowledge of the disease, its reservoirs, and its transmission; delayed prevention efforts and treatment; poor control of the disease in hospital settings; and inadequate community and international responses. Recognizing the opportunity to learn from the countless lessons of this epidemic, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop in March 2015 to discuss the challenges to successful outbreak responses at the scientific, clinical, and global health levels. Workshop participants explored the epidemic from multiple perspectives, identified important questions about Ebola that remained unanswered, and sought to apply this understanding to the broad challenges posed by Ebola and other emerging pathogens, to prevent the international community from being taken by surprise once again in the face of these threats. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Global Issues in Water, Sanitation, and Health
Global Issues in Water, Sanitation, and Health

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2009-10-25

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 0309138728

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

As the human population grows-tripling in the past century while, simultaneously, quadrupling its demand for water-Earth's finite freshwater supplies are increasingly strained, and also increasingly contaminated by domestic, agricultural, and industrial wastes. Today, approximately one-third of the world's population lives in areas with scarce water resources. Nearly one billion people currently lack access to an adequate water supply, and more than twice as many lack access to basic sanitation services. It is projected that by 2025 water scarcity will affect nearly two-thirds of all people on the planet. Recognizing that water availability, water quality, and sanitation are fundamental issues underlying infectious disease emergence and spread, the Institute of Medicine held a two-day public workshop, summarized in this volume. Through invited presentations and discussions, participants explored global and local connections between water, sanitation, and health; the spectrum of water-related disease transmission processes as they inform intervention design; lessons learned from water-related disease outbreaks; vulnerabilities in water and sanitation infrastructure in both industrialized and developing countries; and opportunities to improve water and sanitation infrastructure so as to reduce the risk of water-related infectious disease.

Global Health and the Future Role of the United States
Global Health and the Future Role of the United States

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-10-05

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0309457637

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

While much progress has been made on achieving the Millenium Development Goals over the last decade, the number and complexity of global health challenges has persisted. Growing forces for globalization have increased the interconnectedness of the world and our interdependency on other countries, economies, and cultures. Monumental growth in international travel and trade have brought improved access to goods and services for many, but also carry ongoing and ever-present threats of zoonotic spillover and infectious disease outbreaks that threaten all. Global Health and the Future Role of the United States identifies global health priorities in light of current and emerging world threats. This report assesses the current global health landscape and how challenges, actions, and players have evolved over the last decade across a wide range of issues, and provides recommendations on how to increase responsiveness, coordination, and efficiency â€" both within the U.S. government and across the global health field.

Pox Americana
Pox Americana

Author: Elizabeth A. Fenn

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2002-10-02

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 9780809078219

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A horrifying epidemic of smallpox was sweeping across the Americas when the War of Independence began, and yet little is known about it. Fenn reveals how deeply "variola" affected the outcome of the war in every colony and the lives of everyone in North America. Illustrations.

Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic
Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-09-28

Total Pages: 483

ISBN-13: 0309459575

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Drug overdose, driven largely by overdose related to the use of opioids, is now the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States. The ongoing opioid crisis lies at the intersection of two public health challenges: reducing the burden of suffering from pain and containing the rising toll of the harms that can arise from the use of opioid medications. Chronic pain and opioid use disorder both represent complex human conditions affecting millions of Americans and causing untold disability and loss of function. In the context of the growing opioid problem, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched an Opioids Action Plan in early 2016. As part of this plan, the FDA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a committee to update the state of the science on pain research, care, and education and to identify actions the FDA and others can take to respond to the opioid epidemic, with a particular focus on informing FDA's development of a formal method for incorporating individual and societal considerations into its risk-benefit framework for opioid approval and monitoring.

Flu
Flu

Author: Gina Kolata

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2011-04-01

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 1429979356

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Veteran journalist Gina Kolata's Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It presents a fascinating look at true story of the world's deadliest disease. In 1918, the Great Flu Epidemic felled the young and healthy virtually overnight. An estimated forty million people died as the epidemic raged. Children were left orphaned and families were devastated. As many American soldiers were killed by the 1918 flu as were killed in battle during World War I. And no area of the globe was safe. Eskimos living in remote outposts in the frozen tundra were sickened and killed by the flu in such numbers that entire villages were wiped out. Scientists have recently rediscovered shards of the flu virus frozen in Alaska and preserved in scraps of tissue in a government warehouse. Gina Kolata, an acclaimed reporter for The New York Times, unravels the mystery of this lethal virus with the high drama of a great adventure story. Delving into the history of the flu and previous epidemics, detailing the science and the latest understanding of this mortal disease, Kolata addresses the prospects for a great epidemic recurring, and, most important, what can be done to prevent it.