Public Health and the Prevention

Public Health and the Prevention of Contagious Diseases

It is the work of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to advise the public of new health threats, and to receive information on outbreaks of new diseases, and to investigate them (CDC, 2008, found online). Being informed about potential health risks is the first level of prevention. For instance, with the outbreak of the HIV / AIDS virus, during the late 1970s, if the public had been better informed, and understood that this was a sexually transmitted disease that could be prevented by use of a condom, then many lives might have been saved. The early treatment of the HIV / AIDS cases was mishandled by federal, state, and local authorities who feared the panic and adverse impact it would have on the public to engage in discussion surrounding a disease about which very little was known, except that it was a virile disease, and spreading fast. As a result, HIV / AIDS was mislabeled as "gay cancer," (Van Vugt, Johannes, 1994, p. 94). Instead of approaching the disease as a spreading public threat, and making the public beyond the gay community aware of the potential risk, officials behaved in a static way, while more people became infected with the disease. Improved public awareness programs have, since that time, been implemented, which better serve the public as to informing them about potential and existing health risks.

The second level of protection against the risk of acquired disease and infection is routine physicals with a family physician. Routine check-ups help prevent against diseases like cervical and breast cancer, tuberculosis - which has produced new and treatment resistant strains in the past decade. Routine check-ups play an integral role in the prevention and spread of diseases.

The third level of prevention is treatment. If diagnosed with a disease, one that poses a risk to the greater public, it is imperative that the individual infected with the disease seek proper medical attention. Quickly containing the infection or disease can help mitigate the impact of its potential danger to others in the community.

The fourth level of prevention is not to wait for others to inform us about the risks we take when we travel abroad, or work in certain environmental circumstances that pose risks to human health. Research, visit the CDC web site at CDC.GOV, and investigate the risks associated with the handling of certain substances and chemicals that one encounters in their daily lives.

Elizabeth W. Etheridge (1997), in an article appearing in the Journal of Environmental Health, said: