I spoke with Lakisha Thomas, a health officer for the department of health in Miami Dade County, who was able to provide me with the top 5 communicable diseases affecting Miami Dade County, FL.
1) The first communicable disease was chlamydia. Chlamydia is a very common STD which is caused by a bacterium. It affects both men and women and can unfortunately cause permanent damage to a woman's reproductive system. It is the most common transmitted STD and is transmitted by having sex with someone who is infected. It's also known as the silent disease because most people who are infected do not show any signs. Any sexually active person can become infected (of course there are exceptions), but reports show that approximately 1 in 15 sexually active females from the ages of 14-19 is infected.
2) The next observed disease was gonorrhea. Its is another sexually transmitted disease and is also caused by a bacterium. It grows easily in warm, moist places-usually the reproductive system- in both men and women and can also grow in the eyes, nose, and throat. In women, it can lead to PID (pelvic inflammatory disease) which can lead to pus-fill pockets in the reproductive system that are hard to cure. Horrible, right? It can also lead to ectopic pregnancies, which are when the egg grows outside of the uterus, usually in a Fallopian tube. The symptoms are usually pretty mild in men and even less prevalent in women. In men, a few symptoms are white or yellow discharge from the penis. In women, the symptoms are often mistaken for a bladder infection which is very bad because if left untreated can also severely harm the reproductive system for both men and women. Being infected with gonorrhea and not being treated also increases risks for acquiring HIV. If a woman is pregnant and is infected, she may pass it to her child and the child will become infected as well. It can be prevented by latex condoms.
3) Thirdly on the list was HIV. It is a condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus and slowly destroys the immune system eventually leading to death from some disease that the body wasn't able to fight off without the immune system. Florida fits all the categories for a high population of people effected. HIV is mostly concentrated in urban areas which makes sense because Miami Dade is an urban area. In 2009, the highest concentration of people living with HIV was in the South and in 2010, blacks were found to contain the highest concentration of people effected.
4) Another one of the top 10 was salmonella. It is caused by a bacteria and causes diarrhea, fever, and abdominal pains. It normally lasts up to a week and can start showing itself after about a day or even 12 hours. It is caused by salmonella bacteria. It is usually found in feces because it lives in our and animals' intestinal tracts and is usually transmitted through food that was contaminated. Reptiles and poultry usually carry the disease more often, so to prevent transmitting or spreading it, washing hands with antibacterial soap is highly advised. People usually get over it without antibiotics and are rarely hospitalized unless it's because of their severe diarrhea. Wash hands thoroughly and make sure to cook foods-especially poultry- all the way through to make sure the bacteria is killed.
5) Coincidentally, campylobacteriosis is another type of "food poisoning" that was on the top 10 list. It is usually accompanied by nausea and vomiting, fever, abdominal cramps and pains, diarrhea, and overall uneasiness. I had it once and it was the best experience of my life... It was horrible and if you can imagine a "Gogurt" tube opened at both ends, then I have done my job of explaining. People are usually infected by consuming raw poultry or meat or anything that is contaminated with raw chicken juice. It's not usually transmitted from person to person, but is possible. It's not really necessary to have antibiotics for this either unless it's one of the more severe cases. Those effected will normally recover within 2 to 5 days.
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