Marie Lester, Public Health 100

Marie Lester

            Since I live in Utah County I tried to think of places that I might want to live when I get older. My mind fell on Houston, Texas. I have always been interested in the medical field especially nursing. My aunt is the nurse manager of the ICU and shock trauma floor of a hospital in Houston Texas. I decided to interview her and ask her about the different types of health trends they see going on in there community.

            Adolescent Pregnancy has become a huge issue in the Houston, Texas area. Teenage mothers are less likely to receive sufficient prenatal care. They are also more likely to be chain smokers. Because of this the child is more likely to be born underweight, with a disability, or die within the first year of life. In Houston 68% of teenage births were given by Hispanics. Showing a trend of what ethnic group is more likely to be effected by this.

            The number of STD (STI) has grown quite a bit over the last couple of years. Gonorrhea rates have increased by approximately 16% and Chlamydia rates increased by 20%. Unprotected sex is almost the sole reason for this sudden outbreak. Since the media has been showing sex as a good thing, and without proper education teenagers and adults have been suffering from STI. If left untreated STI can lead to infertility, cancer, or death.

            Hepatitis B and C are blood-bone viruses that affect the liver and can lead to liver cancer or death. The Hepatitis B rate for Houston has almost double in the past 7 years. This is mostly due to the rise in population. Hepatitis C has almost tripled. They think that the reason it has grown so much is because they actually find people that have Hepatitis C. There is more testing done now. In the past when people got Hepatitis C they didn’t even know they had it.

            Immunization has been shown to be one of the greatest public health advances in the last century. While this is true a lot of people lack proper immunizations. Approximately only 73% of Houston infants receive the recommended immunizations.  Many parents think that the immunizations are just a ploy to get them to pay more money. What this is doing though is putting the baby at risk of getting a very serious illness that could be prevented.

            Childhood Obesity is up in climbing in Houston Texas. With recent studies they have found that 16.7% of Houston High School students are conserved to obese. This is because they aren’t getting the proper amount of fruits and vegetables everyday. Since it is so easy to grab something quick, which is usually within the category of deep fried, weight has gone up among children. Being over weight as a child increases the chance of them being over weight as an adult.