| Quarantine | |||||
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Quarantine means enforced isolation.
Quarantine is normally conducted to stop the spread of anything considered dangerous, normally, but is normally used to contain some type of infectious disease that is communicable (easily spread and contagious).
- Quinine comes from the Italian word quarantena, which means a forty day period
Quarantine, together with the isolation associated with it, is a normal health care practice used to control a contagious disease from spreading, by limiting other people's exposure to it and hence getting infected too.
Quarantine normally lasts only as long as necessary to protect the general public by:
- providing public health care (such as immunization or drug treatment, as required)
- ensuring that quarantined persons do not infect others if they have been exposed to a contagious disease
Quarantine is more likely to involve small numbers of people exposed to a disease in small areas, than large numbers of people in whole cities or towns.
references
- McGuire M, Beerman KA, Nutritional Sciences: From Fundamentals to Food, 2007 Thomson Wadsworth USA
- Marieb EM, Hoehn K. Human Anatomy & Physiology. 7th edition, 2006. Benjamin Cummings Publishing
- Osiecki, Henry. The Physician's Handbook of Clinical Nutrition. 6th edition, 2001, BioConcepts Publishing
- Rolfes SR, Pinna K, Whitney E. Understanding Normal and Clinical Nutrition. 7th Edition, 2005. Brooks Cole Publishing
To learn more, go to the following web sites:
- Australian Quarantine and Inspection Services (AQIS)
- Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (USA)
