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Environmental Disease
Published in Gary S. Moore, Kathleen A. Bell, Living with the Earth, 2018
Gary S. Moore, Kathleen A. Bell
The major routes of infections for most infectious disease agents include (1) direct contact, (2) vehicles, and (3) vectors. The types of contact transmission involved in transmission include (a) direct, (b) indirect, and (c) droplet contact. Direct contact transmission occurs when the disease is passed directly from a source to the host by physical contact without an intervening object. Also known as person-to-person contact, this type of transmission may occur through kissing, touching, or sexual intercourse. HIV, infectious mononucleosis, influenza, the common cold, and measles are examples of diseases transmitted in this way. When the disease agent is transmitted from a reservoir to a host by a nonliving object, the process is called indirect contact transmission. The object on which the disease is transmitted is often referred to as a fomite and may include eating utensils, glassware, shared toothbrushes, tissues, toys, syringes, and bedding. As examples, hepatitis and HIV viruses may be transmitted by contaminated syringes. Organisms such as the viruses involved in the common cold may be transmitted by droplets, whereby the organisms are contained within mucous droplets expelled into the air via sneezing, coughing, or even talking. These droplets travel short distances to be inhaled or ingested by persons nearby (usually less than approximately a meter).
Built Environment—Healthy Homes and Healthy Communities
Published in Herman Koren, Best Practices for Environmental Health, 2017
Temperature extremes especially affect the poor, children, elderly, and sick. The poor and sick live in structures that are not heated properly or air-conditioned, and in areas where there are high levels of crime and therefore windows and doors are kept closed and locked. This sharply decreases the amount of ventilation and allows the heat within structures to rise to dangerous levels. When it is very cold and there is insufficient heat, there is an increased risk of cardiovascular disease as well as pneumonia. Children are at very high risk from extreme weather conditions. When it is very cold, their resistance is lowered and they are more prone to upper respiratory diseases. When it is very hot, they breathe more rapidly for longer periods of time outdoor air including air pollutants. Older people have a significant problem since the individual’s ability to regulate body temperature and adapt physiologically to the cold or heat decreases with age. In addition, older people are more prone to chronic disease and may be using medications which enhance cold or heat problems. All individuals are more vulnerable to infectious disease when their resistance is lowered by temperature extremes.
Coronavirus
Published in Suman Lata Tripathi, Kanav Dhir, Deepika Ghai, Shashikant Patil, Health Informatics and Technological Solutions for Coronavirus (COVID-19), 2021
Coronaviruses are a large group of enveloped viruses having positive sense RNA as their genome. These viruses are known to cause infections in mammals and Aves. In humans, coronaviruses are known to cause infections associated with the respiratory tract. These respiratory tract infections can range from mild to lethal [1,2]. Mild infections include common cold (generally caused by rhinoviruses). Lethal infections include outbreaks like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) as occurred in 2002, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2012 and now recently reported Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) in 2019 [1,3].
The epidemic COVID-19 model via Caputo–Fabrizio fractional operator
Published in Waves in Random and Complex Media, 2022
Ajay Kumar, Amit Prakash, Haci Mehmet Baskonus
It is predicted that coronavirus disease will become a significant moment in the history of the world. Coronavirus is a large family bearing the crown of a specific corona or sugar protein and due to their presence, it was called the coronavirus in 1960. Viruses cause common cold infections and severe diseases. The coronavirus family includes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV) and extreme acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV). Extensive studies have shown that the coronavirus is transmitted between humans and animals. SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV from cats, civet and dromedic camels have been transmitted to humans. COVID-19 was first found in the city of Wuhan, which had never appeared in humans before. Snakes or bats have been accused of causing the outbreak, but other experts actually agree that this is unlikely. Initial human signs of COVID-19 are seen, such as cough, breathing problems and fever. Rapid spread of this infection can lead to death in the next stages. The epidemic of the present-day deadly and highly infected virus is a coronavirus, found in Wuhan (Chinese city) on December 31, 2019 [1]. As of September 23, 2021, the virus has spread to 215 countries with more than 231,397,264 confirmed case and more than 4,742,761 reported death, worldwide, including India with 81,04,591 cases and 1,21,263 reported death [2,3] and Bihar with 2,14,946 confirmed cases and 1,076 reported death [4].
Phase congruency-based filtering approach combined with a convolutional network for lung CT image analysis
Published in The Imaging Science Journal, 2021
Mohamed Ben Gharsallah, Hassene Seddik
The coronavirus is a pandemic an emerging infectious disease. Patients report symptoms that appear over a week and a fairly long healing time [1]. The first symptoms are often observed as cold, headache, body aches, muscle pain and fatigue. Sometimes also fever, cough, and red eyes with slight conjunctivitis [2]. This virus attacks the cells of the central nervous system. That is why it will disturb the patient’s taste and smell. These symptoms were most prevalent when subjects had a severe form of infection [3]. An early diagnosis of this disease is crucial for the treatment and control of the disease. Compared to the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) test, a chest computed tomography (CT) scan may be a more reliable, convenient and rapid method for diagnosing and evaluating coronavirus, particularly in the epidemic area. Medical imaging techniques offer new hope for the treatment of many diseases, such as cancer, epilepsy, etc. Precise exploration of the lesions, therefore, facilitates the use of surgery, the only therapeutic solution for certain patients [4]. On another side, differentiating coronavirus images from other viral pathologies is very delicate. Radiologists have found that several characteristics were much more common in the context of coronavirus [4,5]. Compared to conventional viral pneumonia, those affected by coronavirus were more likely to have peripheral distribution, ground glass opacity, fine reticular opacity and vascular thickening, as shown in Figure 1.
Development and evaluation of RAMP I – a practitioner’s tool for screening of musculoskeletal disorder risk factors in manual handling
Published in International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 2019
Carl Mikael Lind, Mikael Forsman, Linda Maria Rose
Manual handling in cold environments has been associated with an increased probability of MSDs and/or LBP/LBD [15,18], while manual handling of cold objects can cause pain, numbness and cold injury [70]. A cold working condition has been defined as an ambient temperature of <10 °C or when it causes cold sensations [71]. The thermal effect can be further amplified by a draft [72], which additionally has been related to LBP [73] and NSP/NSD [74]. Conversely, a hot ambient temperature can reduce the capacity in MHOs [75,76] and has been linked with the onset of LBP [77]. Furthermore, manual handling of hot objects can cause burns and irreversible cutaneous injuries [78]. Therefore, a hot and cold ambient temperature or draft and the handling of warm or cold objects were used as assessment criteria.