Real-Life Communication
You are alerted by a public health nurse working in one of the city
hospitals that several patients who recently visited a foreign country have
tested positive for typhoid fever. Typhoid fever is rarely seen in industrialized
countries anymore because of better sanitation systems.
However, the
return of the disease could cause potential health problems in your community.
You think that the issue is of a big enough concern that you should send a
letter into the local newspapers alerting them of the outbreak.
"Communication
skills are very important, and so are writing skills," says Tim Hilderman.
He is a public health director. "You have to send messages to the public about
continuing health issues and about such things as pools being closed."
This
is some of what you write in your letter:
Typhoid fever
is caused by Salmonella typhi, the typhoid bacillus. At present, there are
107 different strains of the bacteria.
Typhoid fever is characterized
by the sudden onset of sustained fever, severe headache, nausea, severe loss
of appetite, constipation or sometimes diarrhea. Severe forms have been described
with mental dullness and meningitis.
Paratyphoid fever can be caused
by any of three variations or bioserotypes of S. enteritidis Paratyphi A,
B and C. It is similar in its symptoms to typhoid fever, but tends to be milder,
with a much lower fatality rate.
Typhoid fever affects 17 million people
worldwide every year, with approximately 600,000 deaths. The number of sporadic
cases of typhoid fever has remained relatively constant in the industrialized
world. And with the advent of proper sanitary facilities, it has been virtually
eliminated in many areas. Most cases in developed countries are imported from
endemic countries.
(Information for general distribution, courtesy
of the World Health Organization)
Soon after you send
the letter, you get a call from a local reporter. She has a few questions
about typhoid that she would like answered.
- What are the symptoms of typhoid fever?
- How many people die of typhoid each year?
- Why has the number of cases in industrialized countries gone down so much?
What do you tell her?