Answer 2 for NURS 8310 Week 1 Discussion Epidemiology and Population Health

This is insightful. Eradication of smallpox involved different interventions that were informed by research. Individuals with smallpox had distinctive skin rashes and fever. Even though most people with smallpox fully recovered, about 3% of people suffering from the disease died. Smallpox was eradicated through an extensive vaccination campaign. In particular, right vaccinations and isolation of cases were applied as the main containment measures (Schrick et al., 2017). The success of the smallpox eradication campaign was informed by data-driven research processes that ensured understanding of the distribution, population at risks, and the efficacy of vaccines applied (McIntosh, 2021). Coronavirus is one of the current healthcare problems that are similar to smallpox; the global pandemic has caused the death of many people and increased complication for individuals with underlying health complications. Epidemiological approaches such as the determination of risk factors, the population at risk, global trends of the diseases, and the impacts of the underlying factors have led to the development of containment measures for COVID-19 (Lipsitch et al., 2020). These approaches have been borrowed from smallpox management campaigns. The cost of managing COVID-19 at an individual’s level is expensive compared to the population level. One of the questions I would ask is? Are the epidemiological approaches the only measures that can be explored to enhance the management of coronavirus outbreaks?

References

Lipsitch, M., Swerdlow, D. L., & Finelli, L. (2020). Defining the epidemiology of Covid-19—studies needed. New England Journal of Medicine, 382(13), 1194-1196. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2002125

McIntosh, K. (2021). COVID-19: Epidemiology, virology, and prevention. UptoDate.  http://uptodate.com/contents/covid-19-epidemology-virology-and-prevention?H4014462337