Case Scenario Over the past four decades, approximately 40 new pathogens have been identified. One of which (Legionnaire’s Disease) was identified during a major pneumonia outbreak in members of the American Legion attending the annual meeting in 1976 in Philadelphia. The incidence of Legionnaires’ disease in the United States rose from 3.9 cases per million people in 2000 to 11.5 cases per million people in 2009, an increase of 192%. The increase might probably be attributable to increase proportion of elderly population who are more prone to acquiring infectious disease and developing life threatening complications. In addition, improvement in the healthcare in the United States has caused an increase in the number of immune-deficient individuals, such as cancer survivors, transplant patients or people on immune-suppressive medications for long term auto-immune diseases. The episodes of Legionnaire’s disease showed some seasonal variation; 62% of the cases occurred during the summer and early autumn. The yearly incidence of this disease appeared to also be associated with climate changes, such as increased precipitation. Prior to 2015, only 24% of cases were travel-associated and 4% possible cluster. However, in 2015 clusters of cases, which exceeded all expectations, have occurred in states such as New York, Illinois, and California. The sudden change in the pattern of the Legionnaires’ disease occurrence is not so clear to the scientist. Are these changes due to a change in our knowledge about transmission mechanism of Legionella bacteria or should we be worried about this agent being used in bioterrorism events? Or is the change artifactual and unreal? Please answer the questions below in the order in which they are presented. Be careful to align your answer with the case study as presented. A. Policy and Community Health Education i. Recently there was an outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease at the Illinois Veteran’s Home in Quincy, Illinois. What would you advise as a public health communications strategy? Outline the key message components and using constructs of the Health Belief model as a basis of your communications, identify the constructs and explain how they would be used in designing your message. ii. Considering the outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease within the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA) homes, please develop state-level policy using the three public health core functions and the 10 essential public health services to: 1) reduce the outbreak in these homes and 2) prevent future occurrences. Please make sure you describe all policy actors (e.g. stakeholders) and their roles in accomplishing your goals. For a custom paper on the above topic, place your order now! What We Offer: ¢ On-time delivery guarantee ¢ PhD-level writers ¢ Automatic plagiarism check ¢ 100% money-back guarantee ¢ 100% Privacy and Confidentiality ¢ High Quality custom-written papers
