Six Skin Types & Measles/Rubella: Same Impact, Different Visibility - Essay Sample

Introduction

Considering a patient's race (skin color), there are six skin types, with white and dark colored skins being major categories. The difference is brought about by melanin; the white skin has little or no melanin while dark skin has enough melanin especially for protection. When it comes to measles and Rubella, every skin is affected the same; they all end up having rushes. However, in dark skins, the rushes are difficult to be seen or identified while in white skins they are easily identifiable and visible (World Health Organization, 2004). By contrast, it is challenging to identify Roseola Infantum's rose pink rush on white skins than black when not touched but when touched (turns white) it is vice versa.

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Considering patient ethnicity, all diseases; measles, Roseola Infantum and Rubella do not vary or change their appearance in terms of symptoms. The variance appears only if the skin colors are different. Ethnicity is based on a generalized aspect of life, e.g., backgrounds, ancestry, and lineages but not necessarily the genetic heredity of a person. This means that it matters not if the patient is Hispanic, Filipino, Japanese, Native American or African, the symptoms will look the same. However, most people originating from white countries (developed countries) are more aware of these diseases those in undeveloped like Africa (Mixer et al. 2007).

Based on the cultural practices of the patient's community the disease appearance may change. For all diseases, if the community does not practice or know about immunization, then their symptom appearance will be drastic and may cause death. Also, if the community's beliefs do not align with scientific evidence like benefits of immunizing young children, advantages of eating a balanced diet, ways of recognizing symptoms, treating and managing the diseases, caring for patients, etc., then they will develop quickly and cause major effects to the body like measles causing blindness if not death (The college of physicians of Philadelphia, 2019). Therefore, the consequences are more perverse in undeveloped (Africa) than developed cultures (the US).

On a personal level, I would insist on educating and providing knowledge to parents about these diseases and their immunizations processes. This should be done especially during the pregnancy period on prenatal care visitations. It will keep the parents on their toes because they will ensure their baby is immunized on time, hence, no major consequences in case it contracts the disease.

References

Mixer, R. E., Jamrozik, K., & Newsom, D. (2007). Ethnicity as a correlate of the uptake of the first dose of mumps, measles and rubella vaccine. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 61(9), 797-801. Retrieved from https://jech.bmj.com/content/61/9/797.short

The college of physicians of Philadelphia. (2019, April). The History of vaccines: cultural perspectives on vaccination. Retrieved from https://www.historyofvaccines.org/index.php/content/articles/cultural-perspectives-vaccination

World Health Organization. (2004). Treating Measles in Children. Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, DEPARTMENT OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH. CH-1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/immunization/programmes_systems/interventions/TreatingMeaslesENG300.pdf