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The first response to an emergency is EMERGENCY ASSESSMENT. FOOD AND WATERBORNE OUTBREAK INVESTIGATION
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EMERGENCY RESPONSE.
EHS 314: ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SERVICES IN
EMERGENCY SITUATIONS
LECTURER: Ms. OLULEGAN
The first response to an emergency is EMERGENCY
ASSESSMENT.
Emergency assessments should allow the following:
An initial decision to be
made on whether
assistance is needed
A decision to be made on whether local capacity is
adequate or external resources
are required
Priorities for intervention
is to be established
An intervention strategy should
be identified
Necessary resources to be identified
Base-line data to be collected,
to facilitate monitoring
Information to be collected for fund-raising and advocacy work.
FOOD AND WATERBORNE
OUTBREAK INVESTIGATI
ON
Foodborne diseases, intoxications or infections are terms applied to illnesses acquired by consumption of contaminated food or water.
Foodborne disease outbreaks are recognized by the occurrence of gastrointestinal illness within a variable time period (minutes to days) after consumption of shared or similar food or water sources among individuals.
Specifically, the occurrence of the potential for foodborne illness must be considered when two or more individuals:
Have symptoms of diarrhea
and/or vomiting
Have similar incubation
periods
Have a shared food and/or water
source
Have symptoms of flushing,
burning of mouth and throat,
parasthesia of lips, mouth or
face.
Persons with vomiting and/or diarrheal symptoms may
spread the causative agent from person to person. This may occur in the following
settings: food establishments, childcare settings, schools, camps, board and lodging facilities, private parties,
caterers or at water activity facilities.
The time period may be variable because the illness may occur for some time before it
reaches a “critical mass” to be identified or a
person is diagnosed with a pathogenic organism.
Actions to prevent further
transmission and control
strategies may include:
Exclusion of individuals with diarrhea and/or
vomiting
Following proper hand washing and cleaning/disinfecting procedures,
Identification of the causative
agent (laboratory confirmed or
epidemiological data),
Avoidance of contaminated food or water,
Destruction of
contaminated food,
Closure of facility
pending action.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE OBJECTIVES
In a situation that has resulted in
foodborne illness, the following
objectives need to be addressed immediately:
1.Identify
conditions that may have
contributed to the outbreak.
2.Identify and
eliminate the factors that could
lead to further transmission.
3.Clarify the nature and
mechanism of disease
transmission.
4.Provide
information need to design effective
strategies to prevent future
outbreaks.
5. Evaluate food
facilities or water
sources.
PRIORITY ACTIVITIES
There are a number of specific tasks that city and county environmental
health professionalscould do when responding to a
foodborne illness
COMMUNICATE
1. Maintain frequent communication
(conference calls, emails, faxes) with
all involved agencies.
COMMUNICATE
2. Give input to epidemiologists regarding patron and food service
worker interviews.
COMMUNICATE
3. Provide menus from the facility
or event to epidemiologists.
COMMUNICATE
4. Provide patron names and/or
reservation lists to epidemiologists.
COMMUNICATE
5. Provide liaison with
facility.
COMMUNICATE
6. Use authority to close/reopen
facility as needed.
If a situation requires a response
beyond environmental
health’s capacity, the following actions will be conducted:
• Request activation of incident command.• Provide input into press release.• Provide just-in-time training.• Provide regular sanitation-status reports to incident command.
Enforcement actions against a food service
establishment implicated in a foodborne disease
outbreak should focus on operations and behaviors that are the likely cause
of the outbreak.
All observed risk factors or critical
violations must be noted and orders
issued for immediate
correction of each.
Enforcement actions may include:− closing the facility,− excluding or restricting workers,− issuing embargo orders,− condemning food, and− issuing correction orders