Hello to all of my new subscribers! Thank you for your support and willingness to educate yourselves on important topics to better your own health and the health of your community. In my first newsletter, I discussed the responsibilities of public health as well as the organizations that shape it. Check it out here.
What is Epidemiology?
This week’s letter will primarily focus on the science behind public health—epidemiology.
According to the CDC, epidemiology is the method used to find the causes of health care outcomes and diseases in populations. In general, doctors focus on an individual patient at a time, however epidemiologists use the community as their collective patient. With this, epidemiologists explore causes, risk factors, and trends of health related events in general population health. These events can include:
environmental exposures (lead and heavy metals, air pollutants)
infectious diseases (food-borne illness, influenza, pneumonia)
natural disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes)
non-infectious diseases (widespread rise in cancer, birth defects)
terrorism (World Trade Center and anthrax attacks in 2001)
Common Vocabulary to Consider
Important terms to note when discussing the extent of problems in public health—
endemic: a disease or illness event that occurs regularly in a community
e.g., heart disease, malaria, chicken pox
epidemic: an unexpectedly large number of cases of a disease or illness in a particular population
e.g., Ebola, Zika
pandemic: outbreak of an illness or disease over a wide geographical population (i.e., across several continents)
e.g., COVID-19, H1N1 swine flu
Classification & Prevention
All diseases can be categorized into two distinct categories: communicable (infectious) and noncommunicable (noninfectious). Communicable diseases are caused by biological agents that are transmissible, such as Hepatitis and influenza. Noncommunicable diseases cannot be transmitted and the causes can vary, such as cancer and diabetes.
In public health, there are three levels of prevention we can utilize and understand to prevent the onset of an unwanted disease or event.
primary prevention: methods used to prevent the onset of illness or injury during a pre-pathogenesis (development of a disease) period; these methods include immunizations, exercising daily, and education (which was my initial goal for creating this newsletter)!
secondary prevention: measures that lead to early diagnosis and treatment of a disease to prevent it from progressing; these methods include screenings and certain diets to prevent a stroke or heart attack.
tertiary prevention: practices directed at rehabilitation following the development of a disease, which can include physical therapy.
Have you gotten your flu shot yet?
To close off, I want to share a tool that I find to be incredible. VaccineFinder, a website provided by the collaboration of the CDC, Harvard Medical School, and Boston Children’s Hospital, allows you to directly input which vaccine you would like to have, your address, and age, and it will find all of the vaccine providers near you.
Flu season is right around the corner, and I advise everyone to receive it this year, considering our current climate. Although it is not perfect, the vaccine is 40%-60% effective in most years. If you do get the flu, however, it is likely to be milder, since the vaccination reduces the risk of severe illness or death. The pandemic has caused shortages of hospital beds, ventilators, and protective gear, and the flu season is only starting to begin. Once we enter its most rampant period, hospitals may face shortages again, limiting their ability to care for patients with COVID-19, the flu, or both.
I can speak from personal experience that CVS Pharmacy does a phenomenal job when it comes to their flu clinic. You simply walk in, fill out paperwork, and receive the vaccine in under 10 minutes. It is also free under most insurances! Consider consulting with your doctor if you have any concerns or to establish your best course of action. Learn more about the flu and approved vaccinations here.
VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!
As I’m sure you all are aware, the presidential election is less than a month away. I strongly encourage all eligible people to register to vote and to use a public health mindset when filling out absentee ballots or going to the polls. Many deadlines for online registration and absentee ballot requests are looming, so please act now. I have included links and resources below:
Register here.
Check your registration status here.
Vote by mail here.
Find your polling place here.
Thank you for reading; Be well, be kind, and don’t forget to take a deep breath.
If you have any general questions, to inquire about how to get a flu shot, or how to vote please email me at reemlfawaz@gmail.com.