Module 2: Factors Affecting The

Occurrence of A Disease

Module 2.1: Human Being (Host Factors)

 Factors Affecting The Occurrence of A Disease
Host Factors
• Host factors are intrinsic factors that influence an individual’s
exposure, susceptibility, or response to a causative agent.
• Host factor is a term referring to the traits of an individual person or
animal that affect susceptibility to disease, especially in comparison
to other individuals.
• The term arose in the context of infectious disease research, in
contrast to "organism factors", such as the virulence and infectivity
of a microbe.
• Host factors which affect a person’s likelihood of exposure: e.g. Age,
race, sex, socioeconomic status, and behaviors (smoking, drug abuse,
lifestyle, sexual practices and contraception, eating habits).
 Host Factors

Host factors that may vary in a population and affect disease

susceptibility can be innate or acquired.
Some examples:
1. General health
2. Age
3. Psychological characteristics and attitude
4. Nutritional state
5. Social ties
6. Previous exposure to the organism or related antigens
 Host Factors

7 Haplotype or other specific genetic differences of immune function

(inherited)
8 Substance abuse
9 Race
10 Anatomic structure
11 Presence of disease or medications
12 Acquired immunodeficiency
 Host Factors
Susceptibility of the host to infection or diseases is affected by:

1. Genetic factors
2. General resistance factors
3. Specific acquired immunity

 The role of genetic factors in susceptibility to infectious

diseases is not yet well understood.
 Genes do seem to play a role in the progression of HIV
disease, and perhaps in individuals’ susceptibility to
meningococcal meningitis.
 Host Factors

 General resistance factors include many body functions that we

take for granted.
 Intact skin and mucous membranes help us resist disease. So do the
gastric acid in our stomachs, the cilia in our respiratory tracts, and
the cough reflex.
 This is the function of the innate immune system
 Specific acquired immunity is the greatest influence on host
susceptibility.
 This immunity is specific to a particular disease agent, and it may
be acquired naturally or artificially.
 Host Factors

Natural immunity may be acquired by experiencing an infection, which

is called “active natural immunity.”

• Many diseases confer immunity after a single infection, but many

others do not.
• A single bout of measles or chickenpox, for example, confers lifelong
immunity to that disease.
• Influenza and salmonella are examples of infections that do not
confer lefelong immunity and therefore may recur.
 Host Factors

• Another mechanism of natural immunity is the transfer of antibodies

from the mother to the newborn child, via the placenta and/or
breast milk.
• This is called “passive natural immunity,” and it diminishes after
varying lengths of time.
• It is very important in giving infants a good head start in life.
 Host Factors

Artificial immunity may be acquired through the use of vaccines,

toxoids and immune globulins.

• Active immunity: Receiving a vaccine or toxoid stimulates “active”

immunity, since the recipient responds by producing his/her own
antibodies.
• Passive immunity: Receiving an antitoxin or immune globulin confers
“passive” immunity, essentially by borrowing the antibodies of other
people.
• Passive immunity lasts for only a short time, while active immunity
usually lasts much longer, even for a lifetime.
 Summary

• Host factors are intrinsic factors that influence an individual’s

exposure, susceptibility, or response to a causative agent.
• Host factors which affect a person’s likelihood of exposure: e.g.
Age, race, sex, socioeconomic status, and behaviors (smoking, drug
abuse, lifestyle, sexual practices and contraception, eating habits).
Module 2: Factors Affecting The
Occurrence of A Disease

Module 2.2: Environment Factors

 Factors Affecting The Occurrence of A Disease

Introduction

• Disease result from complex interaction between man, an

agent and the environment.
• From an ecological point of view disease is defined as
“maladjustment of the human organism to the
environment”.
Epidemiological Triad

Environment

VECTOR

Agent Host
Environmental Impact

Environment
(Physical, biological and psychosocial)

Human activities health of individual

 Environment

• The concept of environment is complex. The external environment

or the Macro-environment is said to be responsible for millions of
preventable diseases originating in it.
• Micro-environment is the Domestic environment in which man lives.
• The term Internal environment is some time used for the
environment inside the body
• External Environment: “All that is external to the individual human
host, living and non-living, and with which he is in constant
interaction”.
• Environmental factors are extrinsic factors which affect the agent
and the opportunity for exposure.
 Components of Environment

• Physical: air, water, soil, housing, climate, geography, heat, light,

noise, debris, radiation, etc.
• Biological: man, viruses, microbial agents, insects, rodents, animals and
plants, etc.
• Psychosocial: cultural values, customs, beliefs, habits, attitudes, morals,
religion, education, lifestyles, community life, health services, social and
political organization.

The environment is all external conditions, circumstances, and influences

surrounding and affecting the growth and development of an organism or
community of organisms.
Environmental Hazards

Environmental hazards may be:

• Biological
• Chemical
• Physical
• Psychological
• Sociological
 Biological Hazards
These are living organisms or their products that are harmful to humans

A. Water-borne diseases are diseases that are transmitted in drinking water

• Examples are polio virus, hepatitis A virus, Salmonella, Shigella, cholera,

amoebic dysentery, Giardia, and Cryptosporidium.
• These disease organisms are shed into the water in feces, and can produce
illness in those who consume untreated, contaminated water.

• Our municipal water treatment facilities are usually able to purify water by
removing these agents or killing them by disinfecting the water.
 Biological Hazards

B. Food-borne diseases are diseases transmitted in or on food

• Examples of food-borne agents are the bacteria Salmonella,

serotype enteritidis, Escherichia coli 0157:H7, as well as other
agents.

• To protect against food-borne diseases, sanitarians from local

health departments routinely inspect food service establishments
(restaurants) and retail food outlets (supermarkets) to verify that
food is being stored and handled properly.
 Biological Hazards

C. Vector-borne diseases are those transmitted by insects or

other arthropods
• Examples are St. Louis encephalitis and La Crosse
encephalitis transmitted by mosquitoes and plague and
murine typhus transmitted by fleas.
• Improper environmental management can cause vector-borne
disease
outbreaks.
 Chemical Hazards

• This result from mismanagement or misuse of chemicals resulting in

an unacceptable risk to human health
A. Pesticides are chemicals that have been manufactured for the
purpose of reducing populations of undesirable organisms (pests)

• Examples of categories of pesticides are herbicides and insecticides.

• Most pesticides kill non-target organisms as well as the target, or
pest species.
• The wise use of pesticides can protect human health and agricultural
crops.
Chemical Hazards

B. Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is an

environmental hazard produced by millions that
smoke
• Diseases associated with ETS include lung cancer
and heart disease.
• Smoking has been increasingly restricted from
public buildings and from many private work sites.
• Regulation of smoking is to be the best approach to
controlling this pollutant
Chemical Hazards
C. Lead is a naturally occurring element that is used in
manufacturing of many industrial and domestic products
• Health problems associated with the over exposure to lead include
anemia, birth defects, bone damage, neurological damage, kidney
damage, and others.
• Exposure is by ingestion and inhalation.
• Children are particularly at risk from eating peeling lead
paint.
• The prevalence of very high blood lead levels among young
children declined significantly between 1984 and 1994 primarily
because the removal of lead from gasoline.
• Occupational exposure is a major source of lead intake for adults.
Psychological Hazards

These are environmental factors that produce

psychological changes expressed as stress,
depression, hysteria.

Sociological Hazards
These are those that result from living in a society
where one experiences noise, lack of privacy and
overcrowding. Population growth may be a
sociological hazard.
Principles
• Growth of living populations can be expressed as
an S curve with a lag phase, log phase and
equilibrium phase.
• When environmental resources can support no
further growth, the population has reached the
equilibrium phase and the environment is said to be
at its carrying capacity