What Is the Infectious Agent free essay sample

For example the name of the bacteria, virus, or parasite. Giardia is protozoan and also flagellated. Flagellated means using appendages in a whip-like movement to propel. Giardia attaches to the host through the lining of the upper intestines. Once it attaches itself, it begins to feed and reproduce causing the giardiasis to commence. Giardia reproduces by dividing itself, which defines it as a trophozoite. This process of division is known as binary fission. Because Giardia reproduces asexually, a single parasite can result in millions within a very short period of time. Giardia detaches from the lining of the intestine and flows down into the fecal stream. The parasite then creates a cyst, which will eventually be released from the body during defecation. This release is known as cyst excretion or â€Å"shedding† and can last for months. The process begins again when another human ingests giardia, and therefore creates another host environment for the parasite. We will write a custom essay sample on What Is the Infectious Agent or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 2. How is this infectious agent transmitted through food or water? Giardia is most commonly transmitted through water and must be ingested in order to spread the parasite. For giardia to occur, an infected human and or animal would have to somehow spread it from their feces. For instance the reason why we boil water, (not only to make it hot) but to sterilize the water so that there are no parasites of viruses. Giardia can also be received by ingesting even the tiniest amount of contaminated food, water, and even soil. From my understanding you can ingest a cyst without even knowing, for instance when walking into a restaurant we grab the door handle. That surface is so horrifically dirty it’s disgusting. After that the mere gesture of touching your fork tip and then eating with it right after. 3. What is an example of a real life outbreak of this food borne illness in the United States? While you can receive giardia through food, it is more commonly known as more of water borne parasite. Although I did find a real life giardia outbreak that had occurred in New Hampshire year 2007. This incident involved thirty one residents of a very tiny community. The reason why giardia had occurred was due to extremely poor placement of a well. Wells are supposed to be fifteen miles under the ground and this particular well was twelve point five miles under the ground. It may not seem like much of a difference but there are reasons for procedures and regulations. Because someone wanted to cut corners thirty one people had to get very sick and suffer. This was the biggest outbreak of giardia within a community. 4. What are the clinical symptoms, duration of the disease and treatment if any? Clinical symptoms can occur up to two days after giardia has infected you. Giardia, can consist of an over excess of gas, violent diarrhea, nausea, upset stomach, stomach and or abdominal cramps. The first two days you have violent diarrhea, as the infection progresses many people tend to then be constipated for a week or so after along with the very painful production of gas as well as severe stomach and abdominal pain. Giardia can be resolved without treatment. On the other hand there is medication that contains metronidazole and tinidazole, decreases symptoms of giardia. Another thing that can be used is an anti-worm medication. I would assume that it would kill more parasites than worms. 5. What steps can be taken to prevent future out breaks? Include individual as well as environmental precautions and methods. There are many things that can be done to prevent giardia. Most of the things mainly all revolve around very poor hygiene. Ensuring that you are clean is one of the best ways you can avoid giardia. It is always very important to make sure that you wash your hands, especially before touching your face, and mouth. I personally refuse to touch many public surfaces and objects; I always have hand sanitizer on my person. For the environmental part of the question I feel that one of the biggest problems that causes giardia in communities is surface what that is not properly being treated. Out breaks within a community is no fun at all. In my opinion I feel that if everyone were more cautious about their hygiene then maybe there would be very little to no out breaks.