Center for Disease Control (CDC)

If it were within your power to have the National Institute of Health (NIH) or the Center for Disease Control (CDC) focus on one disease to eliminate from the planet, which disease would this be?

In your post you should address the following aspects:

Put the name of your choice in the subject title of your post so other students can easily see which diseases have already been nominated.

Points will be deducted for duplicate entries (unless the time stamps on both posts are very close together, suggesting they were being written at the same time).

Name and describe the disease and/or microbe (including its scientific name).

Explain the progression, symptoms, current treatment and/or prevention strategies used to combat the disease.

Identify if it is viral, prion, protist, or bacteria.

This means it has to be a communicable disease that you choose! No cancers, genetic disorders or diseases caused by abiotic factors allowed!)

Explain how it is transmitted.

Be sure to include important aspects of the microbe’s biology or transmission method that is unique and incorporate appropriate vocabulary introduced in the learning materials.

How many people globally or nationally are affected by this disease?

Are there certain parts of the world or individuals/races/population subsets where this disease is more prevalent?

Relate why you think this particular disease should receive disproportionate attention/focus/funding above all others.

Do you have personal experience with this disease, do you simply find it too terrible to allow its continued persistence, or…?

To receive full credit, you must:

• Write in complete sentences that are thoughtful, well written, and free of typos.
• Address all parts of the forum topic.
• Use vocabulary presented in the learning materials appropriately.
• Create a discussion and reply to another discussion by 8:00 pm on Saturday of week 6 (7 days after week 6 module becomes available).

reply to student #1

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive disease that destroys memory and interrupts normal mental functions. These include thinking, reasoning, and typical behavior. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases are in fact Alzheimer’s. The disease starts off by causing mild memory problems, difficulty recalling information, and slips in recollection. Over time, however, the disease progresses and you may not have memory of large periods of time. Risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease include being older than 65, a family history of the disease, inheriting genes for the disease from your parents, existing mild cognitive impairment, down syndrome, unhealthy lifestyle, being female, previous head trauma, and being shut off from a community or having poor engagement with other people for extended periods of time. There’s not currently a way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Researches aren’t clear why some people develop it and others don’t. Alzheimer’s often starts to show up in people around mid-60s. Alzheimer’s disease is currently ranked as the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, but recent estimates indicate that the disorder may rank third, just behind heart disease and cancer, as a cause of death for older people. Alzheimer’s may be able to spread through blood transfusion but most of the time it is passed down through genes. World wide over 50 million people are living with Alzheimer’s. I believe that alzheimer’s should be focused on because so many people suffer from it and not only does the person with alzheimer’s suffer but so does the family because the person loses their memory.

reply to student #2

I think one disease the CDC should focus on eliminating from the planet is STD’s. One that I think would be very beneficial to get rid of would be HIV/AIDS.  HIV is considered a prion. It is believed that HIV started and came from a chimpanzee species that was located in Central Africa. It is believed HIV was spread when it was in these chimpanzee’s, and then once they were hunted for their meat and people were eating them, so it was mixing into their blood stream once digested. It is currently estimated that 1.1 million people in the United states are living with HIV, and 15% do not even know they have it. Worldwide, about 36.7 million people have HIV.  HIV/AIDS is spread through the contact of certain bodily fluids (such as semen, blood, etc). This means having unprotected sex with someone is the main way that this is spread. If one partner has it then the other is susceptible to get it. You cannot get it when both partners do not have it.

HIV has three different stages. The first one is called the “acute HIV infection”. This time frame starts to occur 2-4 weeks after someone becomes infected. During this time, people experience what they think is the flu, but it is really just flu like symptoms. This can last up to a few weeks. The reason people initially have this reaction is because your body realizes it is a disease and is something they need to fight off. Most people who are in this stage are completely unaware of what is going on. The second stage is called Clinical Latency, which is when the HIV is either inactive or dormant. People typically do not have symptoms in this stage, but the HIV is still there and active. This stage can progress fast if left untreated, but if someone is aware and is on medication HIV can stay in this stage for over a decade. Even though HIV is dormant during this stage, it can still be transmitted since it is in the blood stream. The third stage is when HIV turns into AIDS, which is Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. This is considered the stage where it becomes the most severe. It can damage immune systems which makes people more susceptible to illnesses since their immune system is down and unable to fight them off. People in this stage are considered very infectious to others.

As of right now, there is no cure for HIV/AIDS. There are medications to help manage and control, but nothing to completely eliminate.  I believe this one should be eliminated above others because it is a disease that is located worldwide. Since it also makes the immune system more susceptible, it allows people to catch other diseases or develop cancer that potentially could have been avoided if they had not had HIV/AIDS in the first place. HIV is not as common in the US, but in 3rd world countries and other countries with a lower poverty level it is more common. I think HIV being eliminated would positively benefit the world as a whole and help these countries.

“HIV/AIDS.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25 Apr. 2018, www.cdc.gov/hiv/.