Determinants of Health: Define, identify, and synthesize the determinants of health related to the infection’s development. Utilize HP2020. Epidemiinfection’s syndrome: Identify and describe all elements of the epidemiological triad: Host, agent factors (presence or absence), and environmental factors. Utilize the demographic breakdown to explain the triad further.

Infectious Disease Research Paper

Infectious diseases remain a public health concern. These diseases afflict millions of people globally. Viruses, bacteria, and fungi are the most commonly implicated causal factors for most contentious infectious diseases. This paper focuses on syphilis.

Syphilis

Syphilis is one of the contemporary infectious diseases that continues to cause pain and suffering to many people globally. This disease is a systemic infection caused by Treponema pallidum. Treponema pallidum is a spirochetal bacteria whose only hosts are humans. This disease is transmitted via any form of sexual contact and rarely via nonsexual contact through skin-to-skin transmission, blood transfer, and vertical transmission.

At the primary stage, this disease often manifests as a firm, painless chancre at entry. These chancres often appear within three months of contact and disappear between three to six weeks. At the secondary stage, rashes and itchiness may be apparent in the palms and soles of the feet or any other body part (Tudor et al., 2022). Late-stage syphilis often presents with aortic valvulopathy or aneurysm, seizures, hemiplegia, meningitis, and stroke. Congenital syphilis presents with saddle nose, morbilliform rash, rhinitis, and bowing of the tibia.

Antibacterial therapy with antibiotics maintains effectiveness against syphilis at any stage. A STAT dose of 2.4 million units of benzathine penicillin G administered IM is effective against the disease’s primary, secondary, and early latent stages. In penicillin allergy or unsuitability, PO doxycycline 100mg 12 hourly for 14 days is effective against primary and secondary phases. Another alternative is Ceftriaxone, one to two grams IM or IV for 10 to 14 days. In late-stage syphilis, 2.4 million units of IM Benzathine penicillin G are administered weekly for at least three weeks. Doxycycline 100mg every 12 hours for 28 days is an alternative regimen (Tiecco et al., 2021). In the case of neurosyphilis, IM Pen G aqueous is administered in daily doses of 18-24 million units for 10-14 days.

Cardiovascular and neuronal complications may be apparent in the late stage of the disease. Cardiovascular complications include aortic aneurysms and valvulopathy. Neuronal complications include meningitis and cerebrovascular accidents (Tiecco et al., 2021). Jarisch Herxheimer Reaction sometimes develops after antibiotic therapy. This is often due to an inflammatory cytokine response to the dying spirochetes.

The CDC report reveals that over 133,000 cases of all-stage syphilis were reported in 2020. The prevalence was higher in males than females. The disease is more common among men who have sex with other men (MSMs), bisexuals, and gays. The prevalence of the disease was highest among men aged between 20 and 29 and among Blacks and Indian/Alaskan natives. MSMs and bisexuals are still considered to be at higher risk for all-stage syphilis infections. The mortality rate of syphilis remains low in the U.S. In 2020 alone, only 149 deaths were reported from congenital syphilis (CDC, 2022). Regardless of the stage of the disease, management is still optimal, as registered deaths are still rare.

Determinants of Health

The determinants of health concerning syphilis include early detection of the disease, aggressive treatment, and prevention of the disease. Healthy People 2020 recommends or advocates for the use of condoms as a preventive measure for the disease. It also recommends Screening and early disease detection (“The Healthy People 2020”, 2022).”Screening enables early”detection of the disease in communities and is a health promotion tool in the comprehensive management of syphilis.

Epidemiological Triad of Syphilis

The epidemiological triad has three components: a disease-causing agent, a susceptible host, and the environment.

Agent Factors

Syphilis is a venereal systemic disease caused by Treponema pallidum bacteria. Treponema pallidum is virulent and immunogenic. It provokes an immune response with humoral and cell-mediated responses seen early in the disease. This bacteria can survive in the host cells despite these responses for many years. It causes organ damage in its late stages.

Host Factors

Treponema pallidum has a non-animal reservoir, and humans are its only hosts. This bacteria is transmitted from one person to another via sexual contact and nonsexual contact through inoculation and vertical transmission. Having unprotected sex with an infected person increases the risk of developing the disease. Inoculation transfer through blood transfusion and nee