Team 24 Private Nursing, a provider of high quality domiciliary care, decided to investigate the increasing rates of these ailments. The study focussed on 18 conditions: Gout, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Syphilis, Rickets, Scarlet Fever, Mumps, Typhoid, Measles, Whooping Cough, Polio, Shingles, Rubella, Diphtheria, Dysentery, Plague (Pneumonic), Leprosy, and Cholera.
UK Government statistics show that between the years 2008-09 and 2013-14, the top five diseases that exhibited an increase were:
- Gout (2827%)
- Polio (1645%)
- Rubella (1220%)
- Plague (Pneumonic/Septicaemic/Unspecified) (966%); and
- Rickets (884%).
Following this, Team 24 Private Nursing conducted their own research which revealed that of those medical professionals surveyed, 60% have seen cases of Tuberculosis and Shingles during their working life, 50% have seen Gout, 30% have seen Whooping Cough and Mumps and 24% have seen Measles.
These statistics are surprising given the age we live in, but with the government reducing the availability of injections (such as the BCG) and people’s stance on vaccinations, rising numbers of cases are not surprising.
Fiona Spearing, a Clinical Lead Nurse at Team 24 Private Nursing commented: “Since the BCG vaccination has ceased to be mandatory we have seen a huge rise in the number of cases of Tuberculosis. This, combined with parents choosing not to vaccinate their children, means that many diseases are becoming much more common.”
Dr Liz Gwyther, Chair of the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance, said: “Vaccinations save millions of people from illness, disability and death each year. The risks in choosing not to vaccinate a child include the possible return of viral epidemics such as polio, deaths from preventable infections such as whooping cough (pertussis) and risks to the unborn child if the mother is not vaccinated against rubella.
“More immediate are risks of infection and death for babies and children too young for vaccination and the elderly who may have compromised immune systems and, in the palliative care context, for people who have immune-suppressed systems from diseases such as cancer and HIV.”
Information on vaccinations can be easily accessed online from credible websites such as:
Ms Spearing said: “Palliative care patients, although vulnerable, are not at risk of some of the things mentioned. A palliative care patient may have a compromised immune system, making them more susceptible to catching diseases. However, patients should be reassured to know that all nurses and carers have to be fully immunised to many diseases – including TB – prior to being allowed to nurse.
“Nurses are fully trained in how to reduce the risk of spreading blood- and fluid-borne infections. With good hand hygiene and infection control measures such as wearing fresh aprons and gloves for each patient the incidence of contracting an infection is greatly reduced.
“Family members and visitors should be in good health and have a good standard of personal hygiene when visiting loved ones in hospital. Ensuring hands and any fruit brought into the building are washed properly will help to reduce the risk of further illness or infection.”
The data shows that there is still a need for routine vaccinations and how precariously we are perched when it comes to epidemics, particularly in the case of patients with already compromised immune systems. Hopefully with cutting-edge modern medicine we can prevent the possibility of future outbreaks.
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