pamphlet

Article 1: Communicable disease among people experiencing homelessness in California

1. Summarization:

This article states communicable diseases among people who are unsheltered and chronically homeless in California. People experiencing homelessness in California would have a higher chance of disease transmission because of their personal hygiene, living environment, behavior risk and healthcare access. It also compares data on several communicable diseases between homeless and people who are not experiencing homeslessness, including Hepatitis A, Syphilis, invasive group A streptococcal infections, tuberculosis, HIV infection, and Hepatitis C.

2. Statistics

It states the homeless population between the USA and California (fig 1,2,3). It lists major risks and communicable diseases among people experiencing homelessness (table 1,2). It provides data on diseases such as Hepatitis A, Syphilis, invasive group A streptococcal infections, tuberculosis, HIV infection, and Hepatitis C.

Links: Figure 1 , 2 , 3 , Table 1 , 2

3. Critique the article

a. Is the article scholarly or peer-reviewed?

It is scholarly.

b. Is the article timely?

Yes, it is timely. It publishes on Mar. 30, 2020.

c. Is the article relevant?

Yes, it is relevant to my topic because it includes keywords such as homeless and communicable diseases. This is a secondary research article because the authors give out others existing research articles on the topic. The authors have their credentials in the database, and it is a scholarly journal from an academic periodical named Epidemiology and Infection. The purpose of this article is to describe the homeless in California. It provides data to support the authors’ point of view. It isn’t persuasive or biased.

4. Explain how this article relates to your problem

This article is relevant to my topic because it states the major risk factors and exposure to communicable diseases in the homeless population. Although some data indicate the USA and California, the risk factors and communicable diseases are common in the homeless population, and it is not restricted to certain areas.

Article 2: Clients’ perceptions of barriers and facilitators to implementing hepatitis C virus care in homeless shelters

1. Summarization:

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is very common among homeless. This article looks at Hepatitis C virus testing and treatment in the past and wants to develop a shelter-based HCV testing and treatment programs. It obtained a study on a focus group of 10 women and 10 men at a large shelter in San Francisco. The study interviews this group and analyzes the data. It lists the different barriers on both participants and the system/programs. Barriers from individual’s viewpoints include misunderstanding and limited knowledge on HCV, distrust of the health care providers, substance use, chronic health conditions, and mental illness. Other barriers include limited support from shelter staff, media and society’s negative view against the homeless, lack of motivation, financial struggle or prior experience with HCV testing and treatment. It concludes that we should look for solutions on improving patient’s knowledge on HCV and the availability of effective medicines.

2. Statistics

In community samples of homeless and marginally housed people in San Francisco, 46% are recorded as having Hepatitis C virus.

Studies indicate a low rate of initiation of treatment for HCV. In five federally qualified health centers, only 15% initiated treatment, and 10% initiated treatment for people who were formerly jailed. Only 17% chronic HCV patients receive care at four large urban hospital systems.

3. Critique the article

a. Is the article scholarly or peer-reviewed?

It is a peer-reviewed article.

b. Is the article timely?

Yes, it is timely. It publishes on May 29,2020.

c. Is the article relevant?

Yes, it is relevant to my topic because it includes keywords such as homeless and San Francisco. It is a primary research article because it contains abstract, background, methodology, result, discussion, and conclusion. It is published in a peer-reviewed journal named BMC Infectious Diseases, and authors have their credentials in the database. The article expresses the authors’ point of view with supporting data. It provides evidence that supports their study. It includes the results of their findings. This article wants to find better ways to provide HCV tests and treatment among the homeless population. Some of the article’ data may be biased on the survey since it only surveyed 10 women and 10 men, which are not the whole homeless population. The data is too little to make a conclusion.

4. Explain how this article relates to your problem

Hepatitis C virus is one of the most communicable diseases in the homeless population. This article shows the homeless population’s viewpoints on communicable diseases such as Hepatitis C virus, which is relevant to my topic. It provides different aspects of a civic problem (homeless with Hepatitis C virus), and looking for a solution to HCV testing and treatment. Homeless population is a vulnerable group that requires our attention, and HCV is very common in the homeless population. If we need to help the homeless population and build a better community, we need to look at those barriers, identify, analyze, and find workable solutions.

Article 3: Risk factors for human lice and bartonellosis among the homeless, San Francisco, California, USA

1. Summarization:

Human head lice and body lice, and Bartonella quintana infections are very common in the homeless population. Although head lice is not disease-causing, body lice is pathogenic and transmissible. It gives out several conditions that are high risk of getting lices. It uses survey and lice collection to test its statement. Combining the survey and test, it discusses the human behaviors and risk factors for human lice and bartonellosis. It points out its limitations on the survey, which may not apply to all of the homeless community, participants not responding to the survey questions, and tests do not include serum samples from survey participants. The study shows a positive correlation with African-American male, and sleeping outdoors. It concludes that using clean sleeping bags, or clean bedding for those who sleep outdoors.

2. Statistics

-From 2008-2010 and 2012, it surveyed 203 people who addressed itching, and found that 60 had body lice, 10 had head lice, 6 had both. For quintana infection,10 of 63 were detected from the body lice pool, and 6 of 16 head lice pools.

-Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) estimated 649,917 homeless persons in the United states in 2010, and 5823 were in San Francisco.

-Survey people are from 19 different districts or neighborhoods in San francisco. 76/ 203 are from Tenderloin district. 134 were sleeping indoors, such as shelters, single resident occupancy rooms, or motels. 65 were sleeping outdoors, and 9 did not answer the question.

-30% of body lice participants would seek treatment. 16% of the recovered lice people were still infected with B. quintana, which is at risk for bartonellosis.

3. Critique the article

a. Is the article scholarly or peer-reviewed?

This article is peer-reviewed.

b. Is the article timely?

Yes, this article is partially timely. It was published in Oct. 2014.The data for homeless in San Francisco may not be accurate as of today. However, the risk factors and the method of detection are still accurate.

c. Is the article relevant?

Yes, this article is relevant to my topic because it includes keywords such as homeless in San Francisco, head lice and body lice. It is a primary research article because it has introductions, methods, data analysis, results, discussion, and references. It is a scholarly article with the publisher of the US National Center for Infectious Diseases, and also includes the author’s expertise. It also points out its limitations on the survey and the test. In addition, the data from this article may be a little out of date.

4. Explain how this article relates to your problem

Lice is a serious public health problem. One of the risk factors that causes communicable disease among homeless is their resting environment. Body lice and head lice are most common among the homeless population. This article gives out several conditions such as poor clothing hygiene, cold weather, lack of resources, that would have a higher chance of getting lices and bartonellosis. Although the data may be a little outdated, it contains microbiology knowledge on my research topic. It is concerned with the risk of body lice causing transmission of Bartonella quintana, the bacteria that cause trench fever, louseborne disease which is very common on the urban homeless people.

Citations:

Bonilla, Denise L., et al. "Risk factors for human lice and bartonellosis among the homeless, San Francisco, California, USA." Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 20, no. 10, Oct. 2014, pp. 1645+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A389508088/AONE?u=ccsf_main&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=371af6af. Accessed 20 Mar. 2022.

Masson, C.L., Fokuo, J.K., Anderson, A. et al. “Clients’ perceptions of barriers and facilitators to implementing hepatitis C virus care in homeless shelters.” BMC Infect Dis 20, 386 (2020). EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-020-05103-6

Liu, C Y et al. “Communicable disease among people experiencing homelessness in California.” Epidemiology and infection vol. 148 e85. 30 Mar. 2020, doi:10.1017/S0950268820000722

Cawley, Caroline, et al. “Mortality Among People Experiencing Homelessness in San Francisco During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” JAMA Network Open, vol. 5, no. 3, 2022, jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/article-abstract/2789907.

Isabelle, Doerschlag. “Water Pollution Resulting from Homeless Encampments in Creeks: Programs in Sacramento, Santa Cruz, and San Pablo.” eScholarship, 2021, escholarship.org/uc/item/5fr6w243#author.