data utilization

November 6th, 2017

REPORT II

Most Affected

In the data as shown in figure 1, the age groups that are affected the most by these outbreaks are younger Outbreak numbers for the aging population could be related to an immune system weakening overtime and for infants and young children, have yet to develop a bacterial or viral resistance.

Least Affected

In the data displayed in figure 1, you can examine those least affected by the virus. The mid-adult aging population ranging from ages 19-30 are least affected. In relation to immune system, weakening increasing age is a common determinant (in this case 61+). As they age, their immune system begins to weaken which makes them more susceptible to viruses.

Figure 1. Outbreak Data Chart

Prevalence Analysis

The above chart represents the outbreak prevalence in different age groups. The Y-axis represents the number of people and the X-axis represents the location of the outbreak. From the data the children, i.e., people below the age 18 years and the elderly people who are over 60 years are the most affected by the outbreak. Those who fall in the age bracket of 19-30 years are the least affected by the explosion. The explosion of outbreaks are more prevalent in some states than others as seen in the level of infection in Omaha is considerably low as compared to a state like Jacksonville.

Side By Side Bar Charts:

In the evaluation of the data chart, it indicates the following: Jacksonville had the highest outbreak cases at 322, 93 people were affected over 61 and 149 were affected under the age of 18. Further, Miami shows 299 cases, which170 people were affected under the age of 18 and 81 people affected were over 61 years of age. Phoenix had 289 cases, which 145 of those were people under the age of 18 and 92 people were over 61 years of age. San Diego had 258 cases, 114 people under the age of 18 and 95 over the age of 61 years old. Houston had 272 cases, 98 people under 18 had an outbreak and 106 people over the age of 61 were affected. These numbers show that case show that all age groups could be expose to the outbreak, which suggest that age difference is irrelevant when an outbreak has occurred.

Conclusion

The outbreak has affected is more prevalent on children below eighteen years and the older adults above sixty years. The level of infection varies from one state to another. Moreover, the eighteen and below along with over sixty one age group provides a glimpse into what could predispose these groups. However, before such a possibility of a correlation between the immune system and the age of person, further evidence is needed for verification.

References

Brannen, D., Branum, M. and Schmitt, A. (2017). Infectious Disease Reporting and Outbreak Management Improvement Project. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics, 9(1).

Goldstein, D. R. (2010). Aging, imbalanced inflammation and viral infection. Virulence, 1(4), 295–298. http://doi.org/10.4161/viru.1.4.12009