DISEASE PREVENTION and CONTROL

Learning objectives:

At the end of the activity, students are expected to:

1. Discuss the objectives, scope and coverage of disease prevention and control.
2. Understand and correctly identify the natural history of a disease.
3. Explain and discuss the disease causation model of a particular communicable disease.
4. Correctly identify the risk factors that should be included in the sufficient – component model.
5. Explain the different strategies of disease prevention and control.
6. Correctly apply the different strategies for disease control and prevention for a particular
health issue.
7. Discuss and differentiate the different levels of disease prevention and control.
8. Discuss the different factors that affects the success of preventive and control measures.
9. Explain the preventive measures for communicable diseases.
10. Correctly identify the preventive measures for communicable diseases.

Pre-Laboratory Discussion:

The infectious diseases remain a leading cause of death in developing countries, with
approximately half of all deaths caused by infectious diseases each year attributed to tuberculosis,
malaria and HIV/AIDS. This activity introduces principles in disease control and prevention,
particularly infectious diseases. It focuses on frameworks that can guide public health interventions
in addressing communicable diseases.
Prevention was defined by the World Health Organization in 2004 as a reducing the likelihood that
a disease or disorder will affect an individual. The two main objectives of prevention and control is
to reduce the magnitude of disease and to completely eradicate the disease. In reducing the
magnitude of the disease, the occurrence of the disease should be prevented by preventive behavior
or practices such as vaccination, medication, rehabilitation and introducing a healthy lifestyle into
the community. On the other hand, the scope of the prevention and control is the individual and also
the community.

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Natural History of a Disease

The natural history of disease is the course a disease takes in individual people from its pathological
onset ("inception") until its eventual resolution through complete recovery or death. Knowledge of
the natural history of disease ranks alongside causal understanding in importance for
disease prevention and control.

Natural history of Disease

• Stage of Susceptibility - The process begins with the appropriate exposure to or accumulation
of factors sufficient for the disease process to begin in a susceptible host. For an infectious
disease, the exposure is a microorganism.
• Stage of Subclinical disease- The process begins from the time of exposure to onset of
disease. Also known as incubation period for infectious diseases and the latency period for
chronic diseases. During this stage, disease is said to be asymptomatic or inapparent.
• Stage of clinical disease – The onset of symptoms marks the transition from subclinical to
clinical disease. Most diagnoses are made during this stage.
• Infectivity refers to the proportion of exposed persons who become infected.
• Pathogenicity refers to the proportion of infected individuals who develop clinically
apparent disease.
• Virulence refers to the proportion of clinically apparent cases that are severe or fatal.
• Spectrum of disease- The disease process may result in illness that may ranges from
mild to severe or fatal.
• Stage of recovery, disability or death. Some diseases run their course and then resolve
completely either spontaneously or by treatment. In others the disease may result in aa
residual defect, leaving the person disabled for a short or longer duration. Still, other diseases
will end in death.

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Disease Causation Models
The standard model of infectious disease causation under the epidemiological triad theory states that
an external agent can cause diseases on a susceptible host when there is a conducive environment.
Within the epidemiological triad the agent is known as a 'necessary' factor.

Disease Causation Model for Communicable Diseases

• Host- Human capable of developing disease.

o Host factors, sometimes called intrinsic factors, include both variable and absolute
factors.
▪ Variable factors: Lifestyle, nutrition, exercise level and health knowledge
▪ Absolute factors: Age, race and genetic make-up.

• Agents – are an element, force or biological organisms that capable of causing disease.
o Classified into five groups:
1. Physical such as heat and trauma
2. Chemical such as pollutants, medications and drugs
3. Nutritional such as the absence or excess of water, vitamins, fats, proteins and
carbohydrates.
4. Psychosocial such as stress, and social support
5. Biologic such bacteria, viruses and protozoans

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 • Environment- refers to the context within which the agent and host interact.

Three Categories of Environmental factors:

1.Biologic environment- includes the pathogenic microorganism, vectors that carry the
infectious agents and reservoir.
2. Physical environment- includes the radiation, heat, geologic factors and structures
in the environment.
3.Social environment- includes culture, demographic characteristics, economic system,
educational opportunities and sociologic factors.

The Sufficient Component disease model state that the cause of disease consists of a constellation of
components that act in concert to produce disease.

• Sufficient cause a set of conditions in which the absence of one event prevents the disease
from occurring
• Component cause any one of the set of conditions which are necessary for the completion of a
sufficient cause.
• Necessary cause is a component cause that is a member of every sufficient cause

Disease Causation Model for Non-Communicable Diseases

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Strategies for Prevention

The Risk assessment and Intervention are the strategies for the prevention of both infectious or
communicable disease and noncommunicable diseases. The Risk Assessment involves three methods
in assessing the risk within the individual and community namely: to identify the populations at high risk,
assess the exposure and research on causal mechanism. After the assessment, the different
interventions were applied such as health promotion, control exposure and early detection to prevent the
disease. Measurement of changes in risk by monitoring the incidence and prevalence disease is
performed to evaluate the chosen interventions. Afterwards, the modification of the intervention
strategies was done based on evaluation results and on new scientific findings.

Determinants of Prevention:
Successful prevention depends upon:
1. Knowledge of causation
2. Dynamics of transmission
3. Identification of risk factors and risk groups
4. Availability of prophylactic or early detection and treatment measures.
5. An organizing for applying these measures to appropriate persons or groups
6. Continuous evaluation of and development of procedures applied.

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Levels of Prevention
Four Levels of Prevention:
1. Primordial Prevention is involves in the development and implementation of policies and guidelines
to prevent risk factor development.
2. Primary Prevention is to reduce the incidence of disease by control risk factors, removal of
precipitating causes and disease determinants and elimination or reduction of host susceptibility.
3. Secondary Prevention is to reduce the prevalence of disease by early detection and treatment and
also to reduce the serious complication of the disease.
4. Tertiary Prevention is to reduce the case-fatality ratio and sequelae through the reduction of progress
or complications of established disease by doing patient’s rehabilitation and treatment.

LEVEL PHASE OF DISEASE TARGET

Underlying conditions leading
Primordial Total population
to causation
Total population, selected
Primary Pre-pathogenesis groups and healthy
individuals
Secondary Early stage of disease Patients
Late stage of disease
Tertiary (Treatment and Patients
Rehabilitation)

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 Factors affecting success of preventive and control measures:
1. Resources
2. Acceptance of measure by population
3. Features of the infectious agent, disease and susceptibility host.

Preventive measures for communicable diseases:

Preventive measures for communicable diseases are agent when in the reservoir, agent when in
transit to a new host and susceptible population. The first preventive measures which against the
agent in the reservoir is to eliminate or destroy the reservoir or causative agents and also to reduce
communicability by limiting the movement through isolation and quarantine. Isolation is the
separation for the period of communicability on infected persons or animals and quarantine is the
limitation of movement of well persons/animals who have been exposed to a communicable disease.
Second, against the agent or reservoir to host which is consists mostly of environmental control
measures and lastly, directed at susceptible population by minimizing the exposure to infection and
by immunization, chemoprophylaxis and behavior changes.

Teaching and Learning Activities:

1. To correctly identify the disease model for the communicable and non-communicable diseases.
2. To make a levels of prevention for each stages of diseases.

References:

1. Sharma, Manoj et.al. Introduction to Community and Public Health. One Montgomery Street,
Suite1200, San Francisco, CA. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2014.

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Principles of epidemiology, 2nd ed. Atlanta: U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services;1992.

3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Principles of Epidemiology in Public Health Practice, 3rd
ed. An Introduction to Applied Epidemiology and Biostatistics, 2011.

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 ACTIVITY 05:
Laboratory report
DISEASE PREVENTION AND CONTROL
Name: Louis Antonio Miguel M. Maralit Score:

Section: MLS 1-5 Group: Date: 4/2/2022

I. Identify the type of disease model appropriate for the following diseases.

DISEASE DISEASE MODEL

1. COVID-19 Epidemiological triad
2. Diabetes Mellitus type 2 Sufficient component Disease Model
3. Chronic Kidney Disease Sufficient component Disease Model
4. Hepatitis B Epidemiological triad
5. Rabies Epidemiological triad

II. Illustrate the correct Disease model of Amoebiasis and Give brief explanation about the chosen
model. (10 points)

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III. Give the Natural History of the Leprosy. (Stage of susceptibility, Stage of subclinical disease, Stage
of Clinical Diseases, and Stage of recovery, disability or cure) (10 points)

Stage of
Susceptibility
Stage of Subclinical Disease
Incubation period of 5 years
Infectivity: Not very contagious

Stage of Clinical Disease

Signs and symptoms include discolored patches of skin, growth
(nodules) on the skin,
Thick or dry skin, painless ulcers on the sole of the foot, painlewss
swelling or lumps
on the face or earlobes, loss of eyebrows or eyelashes.
Diagnosis: Skin or nerve biopsy

Stage of Recovery: Treatment lasts between 1 - 2 years on antibiotics

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 Review Questions

1. Give the levels of prevention of Dracunculiasis (Primordial, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary).
(10 points)
The Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004 (Republic Act No. 9275) is an
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
example for the
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
primordial prevention of dracunculiasis because it ensures the protection of
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
water bodies
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
in our country. Primary prevention for this illness is to drink safe and clean
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
water. Secondary prevention may include testing the water before drinking
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
and monitoring it for any changes. Tertiary prevention for dracunculiasis
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Give the preventive measures of Pulmonary tuberculosis (In reservoir, In transit to a new host
and susceptible population) (5 points)

______________________________________________________________________________________________
We are the only known reservoir for TB, so what we can do to prevent its
______________________________________________________________________________________________
spread is to
______________________________________________________________________________________________
isolate ourselves from others. Washing our hands is another way of
______________________________________________________________________________________________
prevention, as well
______________________________________________________________________________________________
as disinfecting our surroundings. Taking the vaccine against TB is also
______________________________________________________________________________________________
another way to
______________________________________________________________________________________________
stop the spread to protect yourself and others.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

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