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Diseases and Immunization

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Public Health Merit Badge: Requirement 2

With the recent outbreaks of

Measles at Disneyland

and this time of year being the busiest with cases of Influenza, we thought it would be a good time to cover a few things for the Public Health Merit Badge on this #MeritBadgeMonday.

a.

Explain the meaning of

immunization.

Immunization: A process by which a person becomes protected against a disease through vaccination. This term is often used interchangeably with vaccination or inoculation.

b. Name five diseases against which a young child should be immunized and two diseases against which everyone should be re-immunized periodically.

  • Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)

  • Hepatitis A

  • Hepatitis B

  • Influenza (Re-immunize Yearly)

  • Measles

  • Mumps

  • Pertussis (whooping cough)

  • Pneumococcal disease

  • Polio

  • Rubella (German measles)

  • Tetanus/Diphtheria (lockjaw) (Re-immunize Every 10 Years)

  • Rotavirus

  • Varicella (chickenpox)

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c. 

Using the diseases you chose for requirement 1, discuss the diseases for which there is currently no treatment or immunization.

The of the diseases we found online that many people are being infected with was Malaria.  Ebola and the "common" cold are 

also 

on the top of the list .

Malaria is one of the most deadly infectious diseases in the world. Each year there are 250 million cases worldwide, and 863,000 deaths. One in five childhood deaths in Africa is from malaria.

Australia was certified as malaria-free in 1981, however there are still hundreds of cases here each year in people who catch it overseas. While there are a number of anti-malaria drugs, malaria parasites in some parts of the world have developed resistance to these.

Symptoms sufferers have a fever, headache, and vomiting, with symptoms usually appearing between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite.

A vaccine?Earlier this month researchers from Griffith University in Queensland said they believed they have discovered a malaria vaccine. PlasProtecT uses low doses of the parasites, put to sleep using a chemical treatment. The first phase of the human trials will take place in the next 12 months.