Natalia Fisiinaua

I was able to talk to Isa Perry who is the community outreach planner at the Davis County Health Department. There were some general trends that Davis county is going through right now, bad air quality, suicide, and obesity but I was more interested in infectious disease because my emphasis is epidemiology. The top 5 trending infectious diseases in Davis county are chlamydia, hepatitis C, pertussis, latent tuberculosis, and streptococcal invasive.

Chlamydia- STDs in Utah are really high in general, but from what Isa told me Davis county is extremely high and it keeps climbing. People are having sex and it isn't protected. By people I mean the younger generation ages 14-19. It is transmitted by having anal, vaginal or oral sex. I think the reason why it is so high in Davis county is young people having multiple partners and not using protection properly. Take home message: If you're going to be active, be protected.

Hepatitis C- hep. C is a disease that affects the liver. It is transmitted when a person's blood, infected with hep. C, enters another person's body. It is commonly seen in avid drug users who use needles. There is no vaccine and the best way to avoid it is to stay away risky behavior that can spread the disease, like doing drugs. One reason why we think hep. C is so high is the process of screening is affordable. It is easier and affordable for a person to get tested so more people are able to get screened. Take home message: Stay away from needles and don't do drugs.

Pertussis- whooping cough. A respiratory tract infection. It is strange that a disease that has a vaccine to help prevent it is still infecting the community relentlessly. It is most common in infants. There are a lot of kids in Davis county. It is full of young families. The way that pertussis is spread is by contact so once one kid gets it, that chance of it spreading is high. Take home message: Take care of your kids.

Latent tuberculosis- At least if you have latent tb, you are not infectious, but you still have to be treated for it. Why would something like tb be such a problem in a county like Davis? I've got two theories; large elderly population, traveling. Davis county not only has a lot of young families, but there is also a large elderly population. Also people travel a lot out of the country and can contract the disease while on foreign lands and get tested here in the states and be positive for latent tb. Take home message: Be careful while traveling and get tested for tb if you haven't already.

Streptococcal invasive- I actually saw this a lot while growing up. Each school year at least 2 of my friends would be sick for a week or two with strep throat. It's an infectious disease that is spread by contact. The tricky thing about it though is a person can have it but won't show symptoms until a week or two later, and by then they have already made a lot of contact with a lot of things and people. Take home message: wash your hands.