ECOL 409 by Isabel Victoria Gutierrez

Chickenpox ( Varicella)

isabelgutierrez13 — 2024-03-18 06:18:25 UTC

Varicella zoster virus or VZV is what makes Varicella (chicken pox) infectious. VZV is part of the herpesvirus group and genus varicellovirus .

Point of orgin:

isabelgutierrez13 — 2024-03-25 05:36:13 UTC

A.
No exact date though believed to be brought to America by European settlers in the 15th century. Chicken pox wasn't labeled it own strand till the 1950s by Mauric hilleman who was able to isolate the strand.
B.
It was always suspected to be a virus even in early years due to how infectious it was along being simliar to small pox and syphilis.
C.
Chicken pox is a type of herpes virus; defined as a virus that causes sores. For chicken pox the sores most commonly appear around the body( neck,back,face,legs,ect..)

Spread:

isabelgutierrez13 — 2024-04-01 06:39:31 UTC

A. Chickenpox dates back to 1691 where European settlers brought it to indigenous communities which greatly affected them due to it being a completely new disease.
B. Since the 15th century chicken pox has been spreading worldwide though is a lesser issue due to modern medicine and vaccines. Though currently it mostly affects warm countries and populations that aren't mostly vaccinated against it.
C. In the 1700s it was estimated to kill 100,000 to 300,000 indigenous Americans and killed tribes all together. The most current information is a 2022 study that states fewer than 150,000 cases, 1,400 hospitalization and 30 deaths. For countries that are greatly affected it harder to find well recorded data due to these countries having less access to medical care which made me chose the U.S as my comparison for the time line since there was more recorded data.
D.
Map above of 2023 data

Virulent

isabelgutierrez13 — 2024-04-08 06:24:34 UTC

A How virulent is your disease?
Chicken pox affects children most severely and can cause death if left untreated or if human has underlying conditions. The most common damage is bacterial skin infection that mutants with time.

B.Did the virulence change over time?
Yes, with vaccines death rates went down significantly though even now in countries with low vaccination population chicken pox can still create serious damage on host. In the past chicken pox would cause mass death especially among communities that were never exposed. Chicken pox would lead to severe sepsis that lead to death infections.

C.Make sure to define virulence in your post.
Virulence is how harmful a disease is in it host body including internal and external damage .

Medical advancement

isabelgutierrez13 — 2024-04-15 06:12:35 UTC

A.
Currently chickenpox is treated with a combination of medication and quarantine. The patient is infectious for two days till the sores have blistered but even then can infect others for up to a week during this time the patient stays home. It also recommend for the patient to trim nails, if the blisters are scratched this can create a longer recovery time. Doctors will prescribe antibiotics and in more intense situations they will prescribe anti virals.
B.
Vaccines were the biggest advancement especially for infants who are the most vulnerable to chicken pox. Children receive their first shot at 12 months and then a booster at 4-6 years old in the U.S. the biggest combat for chicken pox is to keep it down in vulnerable populations which makes it a goal for most children to be vaccinated to prevent an outbreak/spread.
C.
Different types of vaccines have been experimented as well built on, the chicken pox vaccines has been in development since 1995. Antibiotic are newer and are commonly used which help prevent the wide spread out breaks, this is the biggest reason why chickenpox became an unavoidable part of children for older America's and now is unheard of for the new generation Z.

Leadership response

isabelgutierrez13 — 2024-04-15 07:37:11 UTC

A
With an increase in infection rate, the United States immediately started to work on a vaccine in 1991. Luckily a breakthrough came in soon and the vaccine was spread out in the United States in 1995. The US was among the first countries to give out the vaccine in the world, other countries waited about 12 and more years before approving the vaccine. A system for vaccinating children was also putting views with 1 years old, getting the first vaccine and then later at 4 to 6 years old. The child would get their booster and then at 13 years old a final dose would be given. Vaccines are also mandatory in public schools which has significantly helped prevent spread among children which are a high risk population. It predicted to help Economically with helping parents not lose wages due to sick time and medical cost if infections were as rampant, infection rates are down 97% currently.
B.
The most innovative initiative was the mandatory vaccine system for public schools. It's still uncommon for other countries to have a mandatory vaccine system or the vaccine by child age stage, it was more recent for other developed countries to adopt.
C.
While the mandatory vaccines does help infection rates, I feel the government could have did better with educating civilians about the vaccine. I believe better education programs and educational media about the vaccine could help alleviate parents opinions on the vaccine. Especially when The vaccine first came out and many were extremely worried and felt frightened by the public school laws. Regardless, out of most of the developed countries, the United States took the most action which helped in the long run.

Society Effect

isabelgutierrez13 — 2024-04-21 17:52:17 UTC

A.
50 years ago chickenpox was extremely common among young children. 80% of Americans by 1980 had already experienced it. It was severe for young children and those that were immune compromise so the effect was enlarged enough to create an impact on society.
Though the main assumption I can make, is that because chickenpox has a deep history in herding indigenous populations. I think one of the potential society impacts, could be its effect on how much we know of older indigenous populations and also affected indigenous relationships with outsiders.
B.
The most modern society change was chickenpox parties, this was because there was much controversy around the chickenpox vaccine. Parents believed that introducing their child to chickenpox naturally would be better than a vaccine. The way this party work would be there would be a few infected children and then other parents would bring. They're not affected children to hopefully become infected. They believe this was a natural way to build up immunity.
C.
The chickenpox parties were unsuccessful and were more likely to spread deadly variations of the disease. There's not much science against this natural immunity and opened a lot of conversation about vaccines. This was all over the news and parked many debates on talk shows in the early 2000s.
This was one of the first major vaccine debates in society and I feel open the door to more people having knowledge about vaccines but also the start of mainstream anti-vaccine enthusiasts.
Overall, I feel the lesson from society was trusting vaccines more and learning about how immunity worked.

Final

isabelgutierrez13 — 2024-04-26 03:52:07 UTC

A.
The controversy chicken pox started around vaccines and how the public reacted surprised me. Including pox parties where parents purposely tried to get their child sick so the child could theoretically build immunity. This was later proven as dangerous, though this social aspect was most important since it reveals the past society relationship with medicine.
B.
I was never aware of how deadly chicken pox could be,it really surprised me especially it historical history in killing big groups of indigenous populations.
C.
Nothing, the importance of chicken pox history, vaccines, social affect were all answered with the given prompts. Chicken pox danger was short lived due to how fast the vaccine came to be, making it a short lived controversy and issue.