MATERNAL HEALTH AND ZOONOSIS

Abstract

I completed my field experience at the Department of Public Health (DPH) at the Fort Riley Army Installation, Kansas. There are six sections within the DPH that each have a different job, but they all work together to protect the health of the soldiers, families, retirees, and civilian employees at Fort Riley. The six sections of the DPH are Environmental Health, Industrial Hygiene, Army Wellness Center, Army Public Health Nursing, Occupational Health, and the Army Hearing Program. Veterinary Services also works in partnership with DPH as well, but is not actually a section in the DPH. These seven different sections, in general function to provide safe work environments on post, provide counseling regarding how individuals can improve overall health and well-being, prevent injury and illness, and protect the safety of the food supplied and served on post. My capstone project focused on zoonotic concerns in maternal health. Zoonosis is any disease naturally found in animals that can infect humans. There are more than 800 zoonotic pathogens that can potentially infect humans. Pregnant women are more susceptible to zoonotic disease due to immunosuppression, making them an important group to provide education on zoonosis prevention. I created fact sheets for veterinarians and human health care providers for four zoonotic diseases, Toxoplasmosis, Leptospirosis, Q fever, and Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis. I chose these four diseases because they not only present health risks for the mother but they also pose serious risks to fetal development and viability. There are many zoonotic diseases that a pregnant woman could be infected with but these four have the most serious consequences for not only the mother’s health but the fetus’ health as well. Also, if an expecting mother practices the preventative measures for these four diseases then she has a very low risk of becoming infected with any zoonotic disease during her pregnancy. This project allowed me to combine my experience as a practicing veterinarian along with my experience from my MPH coursework and my field experience at the DPH. Researching these four diseases allowed me to use my virology, bacteriology, parasitology, and immunology knowledge from my veterinary degree and practice along with my epidemiology coursework for my MPH. My field experience also helped to tie together the research for my capstone project, my MPH coursework in Epidemiology, Social and Behavioral Bases of Public Health, and Administration of Health Care Organizations. My field experience allowed me to see the topics covered in these courses in actual day-to-day practice in a department of public health.