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Sunday, August 29, 2010

If I started Hepatitis B immunization and did not complete the course, what should I do ?

According to guidelines created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) you do not have to restart the vaccine series if you received only one or two doses - even if it has been a few years since your last dose of the vaccine. You only need to complete the series by getting the remaining shot(s).

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Recrudescence and relapse in Malaria

Recrudescence is a re-attack of malaria because of the surviving malaria parasites in red blood cells. Characteristic of P.malariae infections. This may be short term or delayed.
Relapse is a re-attack of malaria because of infection by the malarial parasites which were surviving in the liver (i.e. hypnozoites). This is usually a delayed feature.

Vector competence and vectorial capacity

Vector competence refers to the ability of mosquitoes to receive a disease agent microorganism (arbovirus etc.) from the reservoir host and then later transmit the infectious agent to another susceptible host.
Vectorial capacity includes a number of factors like vector competence, mosquito population density, host preferences, biting rate, immunity of the mosquitoes etc.
To be an effective vector, mosquitoes must have a high vector competence and vectorial capacity.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

In infectious disease epidemiology; what is the difference b/w vehicle and fomite ?

A vehicle is a substance which can carry a microorganism into your body. e.g. air, water or food. A fomite is an object which is capable of retaining a microorganism, and may be a source of infection.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

What are 'standards', e.g. as in Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) ?

Standards are a means of describing the level of quality that health care organizations are expected to meet or aspire to.
In contrast to standards, 'norms' are the typical expected patterns of a particular group.