The focus of this Public Service Announcement (PSA) is Industrial Heights in Sentinel City. This area has the least population in the Sentinel community and also has the least income in the city. As a result, low-income earners stay in these areas. The whole society is the focus of this PSA.
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that is spread through airborne bacteria known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Two types of TB conditions exist in the form of latent TB and TB disease ( Knechel, 2009) . When the TB bacteria first get into the body, it exists in a passive form without making the body sick what is known as latent TB infection. Thus people with latent TB do not show any symptoms of TB, and they cannot spread the bacterium to others.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
When the body is unable to fight with the latent TB, the bacterium quickly multiplies in the body, developing into TB disease. In most cases, the TB bacteria grow and increase in the lungs, which causes the manifestation of the disease in the form of symptoms ( Knechel, 2009) . Some of the persistent symptoms of tuberculosis are a cough that lasts longer than three weeks, chest pains, blood coughs, or blood in the mucus. When the disease continues for long in the body, the patient experiences weight loss, fever, lack of appetite, fatigue or weakness, and sweating and night.
Risks Factors of Tuberculosis
TB is a disease that can infect anyone. However, some people are more pre-exposed to TB infection than others. Thus people who live or spend time with someone suffering from TB are exposed to the risk of getting TB. In countries where TB is familiar, everybody is a higher risk of getting TB infection. Health care providers working with TB patients or TB invested areas. Some people live in high-risk settings such as dusty areas or working environment, correctional facilities, nursing homes, and so forth. HIV infected persons, children younger than five years, drug users, especially smokers, are also at a higher risk of getting infected with TB disease ( Pandit, 2016).
Chain of Transmission
When an infected person coughs, sneeze shout, laugh they release drop nuclei in air and inhale by a healthy individual. Droplet nuclei are tiny water droplets that carry Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( Knechel, 2009) . These droplets maintain suspended in the air for several hours. When uninfected individuals in hail the air containing droplets nuclei, they become the new host of the bacterium. Thee droplets travel into the upper respiratory tract, later into bronchi and into the lungs. The person now becomes infected with latent TB, which when not treated multiply and become TB disease.
TB As a Global Issue
TB can quickly become a global issue when it spreads from one person to another and also spreading from one region to another. TB can soon spread from the U.S to the other areas. If a person gets infected with TB, and it remains unnoticed, and that person gets to travel to another country, it is possible for that person to affect other people. If such a scenario happens for a large population, the disease can quickly spread to other regions. If the condition is uncontrolled, it can become a global issue because it is hard to treat, and it can easily cause death. Thus world travel and migration can easily create the disease to spread from U.S other countries.
Some Tuberculosis strains are treatment-resistant thus lasting for long. Such pressure can prove hard to eliminate and become expensive to treat in the long run ( Pandit, 2016) . When the disease spreads to a large population, it can cause health disaster and also increase the economic and social cost of handling the condition.
Strategies to Decrease Spread of TB
As an infectious disease, the control of TB requires some strict measures to prevent it from spreading from one person to another or from a region to another. TB is preventable through treatment. Diagnosed patients should take medicine to avoid spreading the bacterium to other people. The patients should take medication as prescribed by the doctor. Patients should maintain all doctors’ appointments. The patient should cover mouth when sneezing and coughing. Patients should frequently wash their hands with water and soap. Patients should avoid visiting other people or inviting other people. Patients are required to stay at home and avoid public places. Patients should avoid using public transport means ( Pandit, 2016).
Places, where TB spread is on a high rate among infants, are given Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) vaccine ( Pandit, 2016) . Health care workers who spend time with TB patients also need to use the vaccine. People working in correctional and health facilities can use respirators and masks. Milk pasteurization can also prevent patients from getting bovine TB.
PSA
Let’s fight Tuberculosis together. We can stop the spread of TB. Get a medical checkup when you have a persistent cough for more than three weeks. Acquire vital tuberculosis treatment from healthcare providers.
References
Knechel, N. A. (2009). Tuberculosis: pathophysiology, clinical features, and diagnosis. Critical care nurse , 29 (2), 34-43.
Pandit, A. (2016). Tuberculosis: A basic discourse. Apollo Medicine , 13 (2), 86-90.
