Herding cows, singing in the rain....

What do cows and people have in common?

Herds! In the book, “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, Professor Jared Diamond tried to answer the question of why certain societies flourished, and went on to be world-wide conquerors, such as the Eurasian population, and other societies either died out, or remained in an “undeveloped” state (such as New Guineans). One of the factors he mentioned was that certain populations keeping/herding domesticated animals, such cows, survived epidemics of disease, such as smallpox, because they had been exposed to cowpox….and that this exposure gave them some immunity to other related diseases.

“Herd immunity” is an epidemiological concept, referring to how resistant a population is to a disease, in which a large percentage of the group is immune to this particular disease (Gordis, 2009, p. 24). So, the more people in a group having protection against a disease, the less of a chance that the people with no protection will get the disease, and share it with another person with no protection.

 The more umbrellas, the less people get wet!

This is why it is important for populations to be vaccinated….More on immunization controversies later!

Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs, and steel: The fates of human societies. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.

Gordis, L. (2009). Epidemiology, 4^th ed. Baltimore, Maryland: Saunders Elsevier.

Epidemiology is Everywhere (and anything but boring)...

Epidemiology is Everywhere!

What is it?

My professor, Dr. K., frequently says that epidemiology is all around us. Before I enrolled in this class, I would have had a more narrow definition…Epidemiology as a study of diseases in groups of people. However, in our textbook, I am drawn to this definition “the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations and the application of this study to control of health problems” (Gordis, 2009, p. 3)…

In other words, it has to do with wellness & illness, why we are healthy or sick, who is healthy and sick, where are they…..Who, what, where, and why…And then, taking all this information and using it to help others become healthier. That is part of what epidemiology is.

Here are just a few headlines from the last couple of weeks, having to do with epidemiology (with links):

Elephants blamed for TB outbreak at Tenn. refuge

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer The Associated Press

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 1:44 PM EST

http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?id=18328643&ps=1011&srce=news_class&action=3&lang=en&_LT=UNLC_USNWU00L3_UNEWS

Maryland Says "Hold the Arsenic" for Poultry

by Kristen Ridley · February 15, 2011

http://news.change.org/stories/maryland-says-hold-the-arsenic-for-poultry

Los Angeles To Draft Ordinance Requiring Condom Use On All Pornography Sets In City

First Posted: 02/10/11 12:25 PM Updated: 02/10/11 12:25 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/10/los-angeles-condom-mandate_n_820895.html

Playboy Mansion Illness: Possible Cause Identified by Health Department First Posted: 02/14/11 05:23 PM Updated: 02/15/11 09:22 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/15/playboy-mansion-illness-r_n_823157.html

Reference: Gordis, L. (2009). Epidemiology, 4^th ed. Baltimore, Maryland: Saunders Elsevier.

Intro to my life as a "blogger"....

I am a middle-aged nurse, a mother, a wife, a student of two schools, and of life. I love the ocean, reading a book from beginning to end in a sitting, good food & wine, and my family. Growing up in the southern United States, I still care that people “use their manners”, and treat others kindly. I am a woman that knows, by simple accident of birth, that I have a life that is privileged beyond the dreams of most people on this planet. My special interests as a student are the politics of birth, social justice, rural and underserved populations, and health disparities. If I had to use three words to describe myself, I would say that I am curious, loving, and strong.

Up until a couple of years ago, my life was considerably “low-tech”…Using my paper calendar, I avoided Facebook (& I-phones) for years. It was the principle of shallowly “oversharing” with the world…putting information out into space without knowing who would receive it, that bothered(s) me. I am still intimidated by the speed of current life, of instantaneous communication, and of not being able to see the faces, read to social cues, of the persons I electronically communicate with. It feels awkward, strange.

I am a master’s student in nursing at the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing, and also a master’s student in public health at the University of Missouri-Columbia. My MSN in nurse-midwifery program requires an I-phone and a Facebook account, in order that I might better communicate with my classmates. My MPH program requires that I “blog” about epidemiology…So, I am dragged into modern cyberspace, and social networking…here goes…