The Patient with an Infectious Communicable Disease Paper

Breaking the chain: the patients with tuberculosis
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Part one: the chain of infection
Communicable diseases are diseases which can be transmitted and cause illness to people. Infective agents are pathogens that cause disease. Monteiro, Carvalho and Duarte (2012) explain that the infective agents can invade human body or can release toxins that cause damages to the body cells including their functions. In cases of severe conditions, communicable diseases may lead to death. A good example of a communicable disease is tuberculosis. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. Though, TB is considered as a lung disease, it can affect other body parts such as the brain, kidney and the spine. If TB is left untreated, then it can be fatal. The disease is spread through air droplets when an infected individual talks, sneezes, or coughs. TB was once regarded eradicated, although it is making a comeback with more and stronger antibiotic-resistant strains.
The data of the World Health Organization reveals that one-third of the world’s population is infected with tuberculosis bacterium. Most cases of tuberculosis in the world happen in Southeast Asia and Africa. Each untreated person with tuberculosis can infect about 10 to 15 people every year. Treating tuberculosis is not easy. An infected person with tuberculosis is normally required to take antibiotics like Rifampin including other drugs for at least six months for each day without failure (Monteiro, Carvalho and Duarte, 2012). Any failure can lead to resistance of the disease; therefore patients are highly advised to take medication and treatment seriously. Tuberculosis is not a joke; serious treatment and commitment to take medication is highly needed. In healthcare centers, the patient is placed on restricted conditions (normally on droplet precautions) and anybody else who enters the room must put on an approved tuberculosis mask. It is important to take entire course of antibiotics in order to prevent new, stronger drug-resistant tuberculosis to emerge.
There are six crucial factors contributing the spread of communicable diseases including the etiologic agent, reservoir, portal of exit, mode of transmission, portal of entry and susceptible host (Ozcaglar, 2012). These factors form what is termed as chain of infection. The chain of infection for tuberculosis has six links.
Etiologic agent
The etiologic agent refers to any microorganism (such as parasite, fungi, viruses, and bacteria) that causes an infection or communicable diseases (Ozcaglar et al, 2012). Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the etiologic agent that causes TB. The stronger ability of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis to grow, cause disease, and invade tissue, the greater the ability of the bacterium causing an infection.
Reservoir
The reservoir of infection can be objects like doorknobs and countertops, or animal or human. The reservoir provides a place for the microorganism to reproduce and strive. The environment, animals, and humans can be reservoirs for pathogens. In certain cases, a person may have a disease, though is not ill or symptomatic (Ozcaglar et al, 2012). Such kind of a person is a carrier and h...