Communicable Diseases for District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia Assignment

Communicable Diseases for District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia - Assignment Example Health officials moved with speed to intervene such that by 16th November, the number of deaths significantly dropped to 5,000. The epidemic was one of the worst in the American history. The influenza had a high virulence hence not easy to contain. The influenza is believed to have been transmitted by sailors in Norfolk (Dinh et al., 2006). About 200,000 people were reportedly infected within the first month of the outbreak. The District of Columbia was hit by the dengue fever epidemic in late September, 2010. By October 1st, 160 cases had been reported. The dengue fever spread exponentially such that by October 8th, about 2000 people had been infected with the flu. 450 victims of dengue fever were reported by mid October (Modis et al., 2004). By the third week of October, 750 people had been infected with the virus. The dengue fever was feared to become a pandemic in the rural areas and along the border. It took the intervention of the health and State authorities in Columbia to warn the people about the high prevalence of the fever along the borders since the disease is mostly transmitted through water and humidity (Gubler, 2002). To effectively contain the disease, there was need for the government of Columbia to work hand in hand with the authorities in regions neighboring Columbia. There was an Ebola outbreak in Reston, Virginia in 1989. An outbreak spread relatively fast; however it was nonlethal to humans. Several lab monkeys died, though. Many people tested positive. It was a unique Ebola outbreak in the U.S. history. Although the Ebola virus could only kill monkeys, it was a major health scare (Geisbert et al., 1992). Fortunately, the U.S. authorities were able to move with speed to contain the Reston virus. Patients exposed to the virus never really got sick. Many Americans viewed the Reston crisis as a health horror. Health officials who tried to contain the situation were exposed to the virus, albeit