CHAPTER 6- VECTOR CONTROL

CHAPTER 6- VECTOR CONTROL

      What is vectors and pests actually? Well, today I will define the meaning of vector and pests.
  
       Vectors is animal or insects that bring diseases to human. Pests is a destructive insect or other animal that attacks crops, food and livestock. 


                              (sources from http://bad2thebugs.com/?page_id=15)

       Vector is also known as a vehicle that brings agent to the host based from the epidemiology triangle. Not all vectors is a pests and not all pests is a vector.

       There are some example of vectors which are rodents, cockroach, mosquitoes, flies, fleas and ticks.




                          (source from https://onlinecourses.science.psu.edu/stat507/node/25)


TYPES OF VECTORS AND PESTS:

Rodents- Commonsal rodent (live at where humans exists) which brings rat-bite fever, it's urine is responsible for the spread of leptospirosis. The one of the most historically dangerous rat-borne diseases is the bubonic plague, also called “Black Plague”.


Roof rats (rattus rattus) 

                         (source from http://www.chandleraz.gov/default.aspx?pageid=436)


House mice (Mus Muskulus)

                          (source from http://www.economyexterminators.com/house-mice)


Norway rats (Rattus Norvegicas)


                      (source from https://www.wittpm.com/bug-guide/profile/norway-rats)


ARTHROPODS:

Mosquitoes- Is an insects that bites the skin of people and animals and sucks their blood. It can spread its diseases from it's proboscis (sharp beak on it's mouth) and salivary gland. It carry dangerous diseases such as dengue, malaria, yellow fever, chikungunya and filariasis. Its only active during dawn and dusk only.


    (source from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/insects/mosquito/lifecycle.shtml)



Flies- House flies are recognised as carriers of easily communicable diseases. It also collect pathogens on their legs and mouths and carry diseases on their legs and the small hairs that cover their bodies. 


                (source from http://animals.howstuffworks.com/insects/housefly4.htm)


  House flies are strongly suspected of transmitting at least 65 diseases to humans, including typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, poliomyelitis, yaws, anthrax, tularemia, leprosy and tuberculosis. Flies regurgitate and excrete wherever they come to rest and thereby mechanically transmit disease organisms. 

  It usually appear at dirty place such as trash can, market, slaughter house, food factory processes and animal barns. 


Cockroach- They are common and hardy insects, and can tolerate a wide range of environments from Arctic cold to tropical heat. Its usually live at dark place or slit places such as in the drain at the bathroom or in the cupboard. It usually active during night time.


                           (source from http://www.pestcontrol.ae/cockroaches-life-cycle)

  It is believed that the cockroach may be a reservoir for a range of bacteria including salmonella, staphylococcus and streptococcus. The cockroach can also harbour viruses such as the polio virus.

Types of cockroaches:

         

A) German cockroach

B) American cockroach

C) Australian cockroach

D&E) Oriental cockroach 

       
  

             (source from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockroach)

4 Pest control:


     (source from http://www.amalpest.com.au/LearningCentre/PestControlStrategies)


Biological control- is a method of controlling pests such as insects, mites, weeds and plant diseases using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also involves an active human management role.


                       (source from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_pest_control)


Cultural- it is the oldest methods that have been used to manage pest populations and they are preventative rather than curative they are dependent on long-range planning. 

(source from http://horticulture.tekura.school.nz/plant-management/plant-management-3/ht1103-plant-management-3-study-plan/integrated-pest-management-ipm/)


Physical- is a method of getting rid of insects and small rodents by removing, attacking, or setting up barriers that will prevent further destruction of one's plants.


(source from http://2015.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge/Practices_Current)







   (source from http://www.canna-uk.com/how_control_pests_and_diseases_biological_vs_chemical)

Chemical- it is often used to control diseases, pests or weeds. Chemical control is based on substances that are toxic (poisonous) to the pests involved. When chemical pesticides are applied to protect plants from pests, diseases or overgrowth by weeds, we speak of plant protection products. It is of course important that the plant that needs protection does not itself suffer from the toxic effects of the protection products.


                               (source from http://www.padminipestcontrol.com/)


All my points is not mine, please refer it to link below:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pest
http://www.orkin.com/rodents/rats/rat-borne-diseases/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito-borne_disease
http://www.orkin.com/flies/house-fly/house-fly-and-disease/
http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/house-flies
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_pest_control
http://eap.mcgill.ca/publications/eap58.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_pest_control

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pest_control







  

CHAPTER 5: SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT IN MALAYSIA

CHAPTER 5: SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT IN MALAYSIA

What is solid and hazardous waste? I’ll define both of it and the types it both has.

Solid waste: a solid or semisolid, non-soluble material (including gases and liquids in containers) such as agricultural refuse, demolition waste, industrial waste, mining residues, municipal garbage, and sewage sludge.

Hazardous waste: that poses substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment.

TYPES OF SOLID WASTE: 

                           (source from http://www.intechopen.com/)

TYPES OF HAZARDOUS WASTE;

                             (source from http://greenwa.org/knowledge/local-hazardous-waste-program)

Volume and composition waste and hazardous management in Malaysia:

Overall, the local communities generate 16,000 tons of domestic waste per day and the amounts per capacity vary from 0.45 to 1.44 kg per day depending on the economic status of the areas concerned. On average, waste generation is about 1 kg per capacity per day.

     (source from http://www.geooekologie.de/download_forum/forum_2004_2_spfo042b.pdf)

 Methods of disposal waste in Malaysia:

There are a few types of technologies applied in the Malaysia waste management system. In Table I, it presents the types of waste management used and the percentage of waste disposed by using each technique in different years. 

(source from http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/5381/1/FPTP_Paper.pdf)

Finally, I'll point out the impacts of solid waste and hazardous waste.

IMPACTS OF SOLID WASTE

THERE ARE 2 MAIN IMPACT OF SOLID WASTE:

Health Hazard especially to:

(a) pre-school children
(b) waste workers

(c) workers in facilities producing toxic

Environmental Impact to:

 (a) Animals
 (b) Aquatic life

(a) Health Hazard :

*If solid wastes are not collected and allowed to accumulate,   they may create unsanitary conditions. 

*This may lead to epidemic outbreaks.  

*Many diseases like cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, plague,  jaundice, or gastro-intestinal diseases may spread and  cause loss of human lives.

*In addition, improper handling of the solid wastes is a health hazard for the workers who come in direct contact with the waste.

 *There are specific danger of concentration of heavy metals discharged to a drainage/ sewage system and / or open dumping sites.

(b) Environmental Impact:

*If the solid wastes are not treated properly, decomposition and putrefaction (decay) may take place.

*The organic solid waste during decomposition may generate obnoxious (intolerable) odours.

*The decomposition of garbage also may release methane gas which contribute to green house effect and climate changes. 

IMPACTS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE:

- It effect on aquatic life and on mammals and humans. It cause by:

*The improper handling of chemical waste and the sea/ river treated as sewage / toxic dumps. 

*The industrial plants or manufacturers to dispose of two inert chemicals, when those chemicals are mixed the result could be a serious pollutant to the water supply.

How it affect on aquatic life and also to mammals and humans?

Aquatic life: 

(a) the improperly disposed chemicals and other waste. 

(b) When it raining, those chemicals are washed into rivers, which feeds the waterfalls and then goes into the ocean. 

(c) it can end up destroying an entire food chain of aquatic life.

(d) pollute marine life and kills sea mammals, corals, and fish.

Impacts on Mammals and Humans:

(a) to have genetic mutations, diseases, birth defects, and several other deleterious effects of improperly disposed chemicals.

All the given points are not mine, please refer the link as below: 

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazardous_waste

-http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/5381/1/FPTP_Paper.pdf

-http://blog.idrenvironmental.com/how-hazardous-waste-disposal-affects-the-environment

Chapter 4: Communicable & Non-communicable Disease

Chapter 4: Communicable & Non-communicable Disease

In medical studies, they are 2 types of diseases, communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Communicable diseases: an infectious disease transmissible (as from person to person) by direct contact with an affected individual or the individual's discharges or by indirect means.

                         (source from https://www26.state.nj.us/doh-shad/indicator/CatInfec.html)

Non-communicable diseases: medical condition or disease that is non-infectious or non-transmissible. NCDs can refer to chronic diseases which last for long periods of time and progress slowly.

                                     (source from http://healthbizinforma.com)

Level of Diseases:

Endemic – (of a disease or condition) regularly found among particular people or in a certain area.

Epidemic or Outbreak – a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time.

Pandemic – (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world.

Types of communicable diseases in Malaysia:

-         HIV

-         Malaria

-         Tuberculosis (TB)

-         Leprosy  

-         Cholera

Mode of transmission:

There are 2 way in that the agent is transferred to a new host, which are:

Direct: Direct contact

Indirect: Vehicle and Vector borne

Direct contact- microorganisms directly from one individual to another by one or more.

Example of direct contact are:

-Trans placental transmission is relating to, involving, or being passage (as of an antibody) between mother and fetus through the placenta

-Person to person: from touching, biting, kissing, sexual intercourse or direct projection of respiratory droplets into another person’s nose 

or mouth during coughing, sneezing or talking.

Example of indirect contact:

-Vehicles: inanimate or non-living means of transmission of infectious organisms such as handkerchiefs, soiled clothes and doorknobs.

-Vectors : animate or living vehicles which transmit infections that are usually an arthropod, which transmits an infectious agent to a new host such as houseflies, mosquitoes, lice and ticks.

Types of non-communicable diseases in Malaysia:

(source from https://mytropicanaslim.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/top-chronic-diseases-and-killer-in-malaysia-part-1/)

Finally, I’ll go through on level of preventive medicine:

                             ( source from my lecturer's note, Mohd Jamalil Azam bin Mustafa)


  All this point's are not mine, it is based from the reference that I found. Please refer the link/ books/ journal :

http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/communicable%20disease
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-communicable_disease
www.dictionary.com/browse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_(medicine)
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transplacental

•R. Bonita, R. Beaglehole, T. Kjellström. (2006). Basic Epidemiology. World Health Organization 3rd edition.
•Roger Webber (2005). Communicable Disease Epidemiology and Control. A Global Perspective. 2nd Edition
•World Health Organization (WHO) Website.

 

CHAPTER 3 : ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH EPIDEMIOLOGY

CHAPTER 3 : ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH EPIDEMIOLOGY

What is the epidemiology? Epidemiology is 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. In other words is who get diseases and why?

In terms of distribution, it has 2 categories, which is frequency and pattern:

Frequency- includes the number of such events in a population and the rate of (number of events/cases per population)

Pattern- the occurrence of health-related events by time, places, and personal characteristics.

In terms of determinants, refer the image below:

(SOURCE FROM http://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/)

There are 2 types of epidemiology, also refer the image below:

(source from http://www.slideshare.net/shyamchaturvedi/descriptive-epidemiology)

In term of descriptive studies:

Person – age, gender, ethnicity and risk taking behaviour

Place – climate, geology and population density

Time – Age (time since birth), seasonality and temporal trends

In terms of analytic studies, it known as epidemiology triangle or triad is the traditional model of infectious disease causation.

(source from http://www.onemedicine.tuskegee.edu/Epidemiology/sys_approach.htm)

Ø Agent – microbe that causes the disease such as biological (bacteria, virus, parasites), physical (radiation, physical force), chemical (pollutants, drugs), nutrients (nutritional deficiency).

Ø Host – organism harbouring the disease in terms of Age, race, sex, socioeconomic status, immunity, and behaviours.

Ø Environment – those external factors that cause or allow disease transmission.

·  Epidemics arise when host, agent, and environmental factors are not in balance due to:

è New agent appear from nowhere.

è The existing agent is upgraded or it is more immune.

è Number of susceptible in the population changed either slowly/ drastically.

è The transmission of agent or growth of the agent were affected by the environmental changes.

The conclusion is what is the uses of epidemiology in our modern life? I’ll explain the uses of it.

·       Uses of epidemiology in modern life:

- To monitoring of reports of communicable diseases in the community.

-  To study of whether a particular dietary component influences your risk of developing cancer.

- Evaluate the effectiveness and impact of a cholesterol awareness program through experimental study design.

- To analyse the historical trends and current data to project future public health resource needs.

-   To do clinical trial randomising communities into different strategies for risk reduction.

None of this point is mine, please refer it to the link below:

* https://www.cdc.gov/bam/teachers/documents/epi_1_triangle.pdf

          *http://www.soph.uab.edu/epi/academics/studenthandbook/what

CHAPTER 2: Environmental Health Profession in Malaysia

CHAPTER 2: Environmental Health Profession in Malaysia

   Let us talk about a bit of the history and their roles profession in Malaysia.

 It start on 1870 by Sanitary Board and Municipal Corporation during British ruling our beloved country. In between 1921-1958, Environmental Health were trained at King Edward College of Medicine, Singapore. After independent of Malaya during 1958, the training was moved and conducted at the Health Inspectors Training at Young Road, Kuala Lumpur. But later on 1967, it then also shifted to the Public Health Institute, Bangsar Road, Kuala Lumpur. At Allied Health Science College, the Health Inspector were trained and officially conducted at there. The Diploma holders as known as Assistant Environmental Health Officers that were recommended by The Ministry of Health.

                    (source from http://www.moh.gov.my/english.php/pages/view/532)

  The Assistant of Environmental Health Officer (AEHO) U29 is known as a front liner which maintaining sustainable public health and enforce of certain act or regulation in order to preserve human health. They also involved some variety activities they do inspecting food facilities in district / neighbourhood, investigating public health nuisances, investigating and controlling infectious disease cases such as dengue and malaria and they also promoting safe and healthy lifestyle to the public.

  Next, I will explain their task on their placement of duty. There are several task that they do to the public such as they provided waste collection service and disposal, do maintenance/services of drainage and sewerage system, do environmental cleanliness, always do road service/maintenance, traffic control, they also do flesh flood control, they provide public toilet, welfare house for old folks, build recreational park, child care centre, clinics under health programs, provided ambulance and kenderaan jenazah, provided slaughter house and crematorium.

There 4 types of local government is Malaysia, they are:

 1. City -City Hall (Majlis Bandaraya) or City Council (Dewan Bandaraya) (e.g. DBKL)

 2. Municipality -Municipal Council (Majlis Perbandaran) (e.g. MPAJ)

 3. Rural area -District Council (Majlis Daerah) (e.g. MDKL)

 4. Special and modified local authority -Corporation, Development Board,    Development Authority or simply Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan (e.g. Putrajaya Corporation)

                                        (both source from http://www.selangorku.com)

   I’ll also talk about their major and specific role. Their major roles on their duty is to protect and improve the health and quality of life of individuals and communities and to reduce health inequalities. Their specific roles are to carry out activities related to food hygiene and safety, conducting activities on prevention and control of infectious disease and chronic disease to the public and also implement to control of vector-borne diseases.

Last but not least, I’ll talk about their units involved and their own roles:

1. Legal and Inspectorate- to investigate, enforce and prosecute for any violation under public health laws.

2. Infectious Disease Control- to conduct investigate, prevention and control methods.

3. Vector Borne Disease Control- to prevent an illness caused by an infectious microbe that is transmitted to people by blood-sucking arthropods.

4. Food Safety and Quality- to handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness.

5. Drinking Water Quality Control- to carry out monitoring, analysis of data and sanitary survey regarding water supply.

6. Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation- to make sure that supply of water for domestic purposes is clean to humans and the environment.

7. Occupational and Environmental Health- To protect workers and public people from any risk related to occupational at workplace.

8. International Health- to monitoring borders or entry point in the country either on land, air or sea.

   Finally, I’ll discuss about the association that involve, which is Malaysian Association Environmental Health (MAEH). Their task are:

(source from http://www.maeh.org.my/)

-They involved considerable fieldwork, and some travel frequently.

- They inspect pools, childcare centers, restaurants, septic systems, and many other types of establishments that relate to health and safety.

- They also may be exposed to psychosocial and physical hazards and may be performed in unpleasant, stressful, and dangerous working conditions.

(REFERENCE FROM:  

*http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11755/,

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_safety,  

*Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Awam (SPA) Duties and Responsibilities of Assistant Environmental Health Officer Grade U29 and 

*Malaysian Association of Environmental Health (MAEH). History and background of Environmental Health Profession in Malaysia.

* From my lecturer's note named Encik Mohd Jamalil Azam 

I do not own of this point's that I've given and point out, please refer to the reference that I have listed. Thank you very much for your appreciation.

CHAPTER 1: Introduction of Environmental Health

CHAPTER 1: Introduction of Environmental Health

  What is definition of Environmental, Health and Environmental health?

 The definition of environmental is it divided by physiology, biological, social cultural which are influence health status. It also relates to individual human’s surroundings.

   Health is not-merely free from disease or disability in aspects of all the physical, mental and social life. Health also depends on the resources and hazards on its surroundings.

   Definition of Environmental Health which are concerned in all aspects such as the physical, chemical and biological factors that related to human behaviours.

   Health is totally depends on the resources and the hazards, for example, good health is depends on the accessibility to sustainable resources (etc. clinic and hospital that is available at the neighbourhood) and bad health is due from inaccessibility to sustainable resources or that had been expose to a hazardous substance.

    Next there are 4 types of environmental elements which are chemical (air pollution, toxic waste and industrial discharges), physical (traffic, radiation and noise), biological (bacteria, microbes and animals) and psychosocial (beliefs, habit and religion).

   Finally, the determinants of health status of individuals and population are determined by the personal, social, economic and environmental factors. There are some example of key determinants of health which are :

  

 (Source from http://www.enfield.gov.uk/healthandwellbeing/info/56/introduction/115/introduction)

  The conclusion is the quality of health is totally depends on the environment either good or poor the environment, it both might affect people health. The change on health status might influence the individual automatically in the community. 

(All these points were based from my lecture's note named Encik Mohd Jamalil Azam and I did not own of his note's point)

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My blog is all about my life at Unisel as Environmental Health student...