Every city and county in the USA has a Health Department. It's purpose is to provide medical supervision and treatment in lieu of regular hospitals and doctor’s offices. It correlates information and statistics on a local level to be included into the national and ultimately the world data base. The information is invaluable in the fight against contagious diseases as well as toxins. Local Public Health Protection can range from an outbreak of rubella or hepatitis to a toxic chemical spill that endangers a river. Whatever can endanger the public is the province of the Public Health Protection offices.
Public Health Protection: The CDC (Center for Disease Control)
The Center for Disease Control (the CDC) is in charge of a major data base that correlates information from all over the country and provides solutions to contagions from West Nile Virus to AIDS to toxic spills on the highways. If a patient becomes ill with something the doctor cannot identify, the first call is usually to the CDC to check their data base and try to isolate the contagion before it spreads. With the massive amounts of available information at the CDC, it can be readily determined whether an illness is caused by a toxin or a virus, thus providing a treatment immediately without the delays that once cost lives. New technology and data basing of information has advanced Public Health protection with more efficient computer programs.
Public Health Protection: Local Health Departments
The first step toward collecting information that ultimately saves lives comes from local Health Departments. They are the first step in Public Health Protection. When someone gets sick with an unexpected or unknown illness, the local health department reports it to the CDC and requests assistance in identifying the malady. Using the larger data base that comes from all over the country and even the World Health Organization, the CDC can usually locate the virus or toxin and report back to the local health department, often offering treatments or advice for the disease before it becomes an epidemic.
Public Health Protection: Overview
The modern information technology is saving lives every day by having data based information. It starts at the local level and grows as more information is added from other national and international sources. Toxins and viruses are more easily treated when the source is identified and previous successful treatments are known. Technology is the key to stopping large scale outbreaks of disease that once claimed thousands of lives.
Resource:
http://www.hpa.org.uk/