In this task, students will act as Public Health Officers within a state/territory Health Department...

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In this task, students will act as Public Health Officers within a state/territory Health Department notified of a tuberculosis index case and undertake appropriate contract tracing and exposure assessments. Students will use actual tuberculosis control protocols from two Australian jurisdictions, and provide a departmental report on their investigations, appropriate information to the media, and a commentary on jurisdictional differences they observed and what practical implications these may have.For further detail please see the attached file.

PUBH621 Assessment 2: Simulated contact tracing and exposure assessment Due: 5pm, 19th November 2018 Please note that assignments can be submitted via Turnitin between 1st and 19th November. About one third of the world’s population carry tuberculosis (TB) mycobacteria. Only between 10 and 20 per cent of those people will go on to develop active tuberculosis disease. Sometimes the disease can progress for weeks or months before it is suspected. In the course of a year, someone with active TB can spread the disease to up to 15 people, and without proper treatment, around 10 of that group may die. In Australia, around 1,200 cases are reported each year, 85 per cent of which are in migrant populations. The key to controlling TB is early identification, treating it with antibiotics and tracing those who have had close contact with the TB patient, for investigation of whether they are also infected. For this assignment, you are to assume the role of a Public Health Officer within a state or territory Health Department, undertake appropriate contract tracing and exposure assessments for a notified tuberculosis index case. Students should explore relevant websites and articles to support a report with responses for questions 1- 5. Assessment 2 will count 50% towards grades for this Unit. Recommended word count 2,500, excluding references and appendices. 1. What is a notifiable disease? Include website/s with information about notifiable diseases in Australia (5 marks) 2. What is contact tracing in epidemiology? (5 marks) 3. Please download Tuberculosis Contact Tracing guidelines for the Northern Territory and Victoria. Can you identify any important differences? (10 marks) 4. A student at a secondary school in a small community has been diagnosed with smear positive pulmonary TB while being hospitalized. The news has been published in a local newspaper. There has been considerable anxiety in the local community and parents of the other students. Only the parents and 8 year old brother are identified as contacts, and no evidence of TB is found among them. As the responsible Public Health officer, you want to give helpful information in an informed but not over- technical form. You might tell the community what they should know, without raising panic or encouraging complacency.You are required to prepare a report for the local media and community to address their concerns. Please include in the report i) What is the disease burden of TB in Australia? (e.g. incidence, prevalence, mortality) (5 marks) ii) How is pulmonary TB transmitted & how infectious is it? (high, moderate, low) (5 marks) iii) Who are the high risk groups for contact tracing, and in what clinical circumstances should more distant contacts or other members of the community present to the clinic for testing? (5 marks) iv) What procedures have been taken for the identified contacts, including follow-up (5 marks) v) When would the index case student return to class & how does the community know they are safe from infection from this source? (5 marks) 5. Quality of writing, reasoning, references and correct formatting also earns up to (5 marks)

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Anju Lata · Accepted Answer

Running Head: Simulated Contact Tracing and Exposure Assessment
Simulated Contact Tracing and Exposure Assessment                                                              
PUBH621 Assessment 2
Simulated Contact Tracing and Exposure Assessment
Student Name:
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Notifiable Disease
Diseases which on detection, requires being reported to the public health authorities are known as Notifiable Disease (NSW Government, 2018). Public Health Act 2010 directs different Hospital Chief Executives, Medical Practitioners, Pathology Labs, Childcare centers and Schools, to notify the infectious diseases and other cases of notifiable disease to relevant public healthcare units. This information helps the healthcare authorities to monitor the outbreak and develop relevant policies for management of diseases. The examples of notifiable diseases may be Cholera, Dengu, Plague, Mumps, Influenza, Tuberculosis, Tetanus, and other more than 80 diseases listed in Public Health Act 2010 No. 127, Schedule 2, Section 81 of NSW legislation (NSW Government, 2018).
Such initiatives recognize these diseases nationally, develop relevant policies for their monitoring and prevention, also allocate necessary resources for their surveillance and control.
Contract Tracing in Epidemiology 
People with infectious diseases may further propagate the disease to others. Therefore it is essential to isolate the people who are at high chance of getting the symptoms, to effectively stop the spread of infection. Contact Tracing can effectively break the transmission chains and can prevent and control the outbreak of diseases (World Health Organisation, 2015).
Contact Tracing is used to detect and identify the people who might have come in contact of the infected person and are likely to have incepted the infection (Armbruster & Brandeau, 2007). It is known as a primary method of controlling the infectious diseases like STD, TB and HIV infection. The influence of this type of method relies on the network of contacts somehow linked to each other (Keeling, 2010). In the model of contact tracing, the participants may belong to any four of the categories: Susceptible, Infectious, Traced and End traced. In case of infectious diseases like Tuberculosis, the index patient may transmit the infection to his contacts, after that he may be treated by the physicians, the medication clears the pathogen and cure the disease, the transmission stops but the person may render susceptible to the recurrence of TB.
The process of contact tracing must be accomplished while respecting the needs and sensitivities of the individuals without harming them. The Health authorities need to inform the patient about the reasons of contact tracing, the prevailing infection and their risk of inception. Individuals must be informed about potential modes of infection transmission and must be inquired about their last contacts with the patient. The people who had been in contact with the index patient are referred either by the GP pr by the index patient and then they are subsequently followed up for further treatment (Australian Society for HIV, Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine, 2016).
In Epidemiology the process of contact tracing is used to mitigate the impact of various infectious diseases. It includes the diagnosis, identification and follow-up of the (index patients) people who might have come in the contact of a person who is already infected with the disease. The practice ensures that these patients are aware of their exposure to infection and adopt required measures to solve them. All the close contacts are recognized and investigated to recommend possible preventive measures to solve the disease (World Health Organisation, 2014).
Comparing the TB Contact Tracing Guidelines of Victoria and Northern Territory
TB is a communicable disease which spreads when a healthy person gets the infection through inhalation of bacterium through the droplets of cough produced by coughing and sneezing of infected person. TB is not transmitted by blood transfusion or sex. Majority of TB Contact Tracing guidelines are based on similar principles and policies applicable in Australia. All the people suspected of TB must be tested for HIV and latent TB infection without prominent symptoms. The contact tracing of TB is done to diagnose the people who have been in contact of the index patient, to identify the secondary TB infection cases, and to provide follow up treatment for the people diagnosed with active or latent TB. Early detection of TB is helpful in effective prevention and cure. TB control program require adherence to cultural practices of the patients, maintaining the confidentiality and privacy of the treatment. The priorities of the contact tracing rely on the symptomatic characteristics of the main patient, the severity of infection in the contacts, and exposure conditions. Diagnosis is based on the Tuberculin Skin Test, and Interferon Gamma Release Assays (Australasian Society of HIV Medicine, 2010).
 However, there are few differences between them. Victorian TB Programs are there to monitor the adherence of patients with the TB treatment.

In this task, students will act as Public Health Officers within a state/territory Health Department notified of a tuberculosis index case and undertake appropriate contract tracing and exposure...

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