Epidemology

Topic: West Nile Virus In three concise paragraphs, discuss how the tenets of epidemiology could be applied to determining the source of an outbreak, either natural or intentional, of the biological weapon of your choice. Predict what factors would help or hurt your epidemiological analysis for that agent. 2 pages, APA format, in-text citation, references […]

In May of 2011, an outbreak of diarrhea and hemolytic-uremic syndrome began in Northern Germany.  According to the New England Journal of Medicine, a total of 3167 cases of non-hemolytic-uremic syndrome Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli and 908 cases of hemolytic-uremic syndrome, a disease which attacks the kidneys, resulted in 50 deaths.  The causative agent was found […]

Monkeypox is very similar to smallpox, belonging to the same viral family as smallpox and sharing its ability to infect humans.  Unlike smallpox, monkeypox has an animal reservoir (want to guess which animal?) making it much harder to eradicate.   Of the 47 total cases documented between 1970-1979 in sub-Saharan Africa, 7 were fatal.  Furthermore, there […]

Monkeypox is very similar to smallpox, belonging to the same viral family as smallpox and sharing its ability to infect humans.  Unlike smallpox, monkeypox has an animal reservoir (want to guess which animal?) making it much harder to eradicate.   Of the 47 total cases documented between 1970-1979 in sub-Saharan Africa, 7 were fatal.  Furthermore, there were secondary infections, meaning that the virus spread directly from human to human.* Can monkeypox be weaponized, as smallpox was?  In this week’s conference, analyze monkeypox and its potential emergence as new pandemic disease.   Consider, in an ongoing dialog with your classmates, the following points in addition to your own added discussions: Might monkeypox colonize prairie dogs the U.S.?Do current smallpox countermeasures protect against monkeypox? Should a limited research program be funded to promote protection specifically against monkeypox? Should monkeypox treatments be made a part of our Strategic National Stockpile? APA format, in-text citation, reference include, 2 pages