BIOS 242 Week 6 Discussion 1 – Epidemiology
You are the public health official! Review the following case study, and discuss how you
should proceed as an epidemiologist.
Case study: Over 30 children younger than three years of age developed gastroenteritis
after visiting a local water park. These cases represented 44% of the park visitors in this
age group on the day in question. Older individuals were not affected. The causative
agent was determined to be a member of the bacterial genus Shigella. The disease
resulted from oral transmission to the children.
Based only on the information given, can you classify this outbreak as an epidemic?
Why or why not?
If you were an epidemiologist, how would you go about determining which pools in the
water park were contaminated?
You are the public health official! Review the following case study, and discuss how you
should proceed as an epidemiologist.
Case study: Over 30 children younger than three years of age developed gastroenteritis
after visiting a local water park. These cases represented 44% of the park visitors in this
age group on the day in question. Older individuals were not affected. The causative
agent was determined to be a member of the bacterial genus Shigella. The disease
resulted from oral transmission to the children.
Based only on the information given, can you classify this outbreak as an epidemic?
Why or why not?
If you were an epidemiologist, how would you go about determining which pools in the
water park were contaminated?
