Grant Zimmerman 5 Trends

I talked to Heather a Registered Nurse and in charge of the Public Health department for the Umatilla county in Oregon.  While I was talking to her she gave me the 5 most prevalent diseases that were being spread around Umatilla County. Most of the diseases that are being spread are so prevalent because we have two high-security prisons in our county so disease is spread faster and easier

#1-Chlamydia- Due to the fact that there are two prisons nearby Heather said that chlamydia is very prevalent and spreading fast.  In our county the average age seen with this STD is 25-40 year olds.  Spread through unprotected sex, this disease is causes sever damage in women and even infertility. She stated the Oregon has a law passed that helps prevent spread of Chlamydia by contacting all partners that were in contact with the infected individual to help inform and stop the spread of the disease.

#2-Hepatitis C- Another STD hepatitis C is very wide spread in the county and has been presented in 40 year olds and older in the county.  She said that Hep C can lie dormant for some time so people don’t realize they have the disease until they come to the hospital with other symptoms. Hep C affects the liver and if not treated quickly can have permanent damage.  The contraction of the virus is usually blood-to-blood transfer (often from drugs) which is another reason why Hep C is high in our county because drug use in our county is the highest in Oregon

#3- Norovirus-The norovirus is caught through contaminated food with fecal matter also it can be airborne.  Many people confuse this with the common flu because it has some of the same symptoms, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps and fever, however it is very prevalent in prisons and where people have a lot of people contact. Seeing that again Umatilla County has such a high prison rate this is why this disease is so prevalent. Although the symptoms can be severe, death rates are low and not too many cases are hospitalized. Kids and the older generations are more susceptible.

#4 Tuberculosis-  Tuberculosis is an bacterial infection that takes place in the lungs and is spread through the contact with persons with the bacterial infection. There is a latency period so many people have the virus don’t know they have it until they become ill.  Heather stated that there is a high TB outbreak because of all the immigrants that are flowing in due to the job opportunities that are available; many of which come from poor sanitized countries that have high TB rates.

#5 Influenza- It surprised me the influenza wasn’t at the top of the list since it seems that many get the flu.  Heather stated that many people are ill informed about the importance of the flu shots so many do not get them then later become ill.  If we were to better educate people about the flu virus then some people (usually the older generation) wouldn’t have such severe affects from the influenza virus and just got the shots.