Concider the global impact of a waterborne infectious disease (which Essay

Concider the global impact of a waterborne infectious disease (which may be caused by a bacterium or parasite) and discuss current methods for detection, treatment and prevention - Essay Example They can help in promoting good health, some digestion and some serve medicinal purposes. Lactobacillis is a family of bacteria found in the human digestive tract. Acidophilus is a member of lactobacillis and it is the best known bacteria of this family aiding in the breakdown of lactose to lactic acid and also the breakdown of other sugars. The production of lactic acid in the body provides acidic environment in the body which can inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria. Acidophilus is also used in certain drugs. Bifidobacteria is also a beneficial group of bacteria and is present in the human digestive tract and helps in digestion as well as ; it has also shown some anti-tumor qualities. Some bacteria are beneficial in other ways like they are used in agriculture for plant growth and some are used for cleansing of water. (Jeremy & Simon 2004). Many of the emerging pathogens nowadays are waterborne i.e. they take birth in water. Cholera has been a known disease in the world and two emerging waterborne pathogens are Vibrio cholerae O139 and Escherichia Coli (E.coli O157:H7). E.coli has not only become a problem for the underdeveloped nations but has also become a problem for the developed ones. This bacterium would be discussed subsequently. Vibrio Cholerae O139 is a pathogen which first infected many of the people living in Asia. It started in Bengal and then spread to India in 1992 from where it entered the vicinities of Thailand. It is through different methods that these emerging pathogens are spreading all over the world giving a difficult time to the authorities who have not handled such cases previously (Sharma et al 2003; Smolinski et al 2003). Enterohemorrhagic Escerichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 is the full name of the bacterium E. coli O157 which is a food and waterborne pathogenic strain of bacterium E. coli. The bacteria E. coli O157 was first known as a result of gastrointestinal illness in the early 1980s.

Cost Concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cost Concepts - Essay Example One can illustrate this in the case of the University of Colorado Hospital, a large academic hospital recently recognized as the highest performing academic institution in terms of delivering quality health care in the United States for 2012. Using traditional cost systems, resource allocation distributed across overhead expenditures are done according to a measured amount or volume of individual services or products. For example, in terms of maternity care, the overhead cost could be spread across provider compensation, direct and indirect hospital costs, emergency room, transport, pediatric and a host of other product/service elements. Cost accounting in this setting is straightforward: the total cost is measured as opposed to the measurement of a specific unit of the maternity service. Here, the outcome is fundamentally based on the attempt to determine how many units or the product or services are consumed. Activity-based cost accounting is differentiated from this system because it is more detailed and comprehensive in the manner by which it calculates the cost. There are three steps by which it implements the system as opposed to the mere calculation of resources consumed: 1) defining the activities that support output; 2) defining links between activities and output; and, 3) developing the cost activities (p.5). In the case of the maternity service at the UCH, for instance, it will include nonfinancial variables along with financial variables as bases for allocating costs. In addition, it will also employ a bigger number of cost drivers. It is, hence, more accurate in determining cost than the traditional cost accounting method. The impact of cost accounting is important. Hospitals like UCH will predict the cost on the basis of expected visits in assessments like the profit analysis model. This is significant is especially on the face of the increasing frustrations of healthcare finance