Nursing Epidemiology Assignment: Outbreak Investigations

This document provides comprehensive solutions to a Nursing Epidemiology assignment. The assignment covers a range of topics, including changes in surveillance that might overestimate an outbreak, outbreak investigations, and different types of surveillance like active and passive. It includes...Read More

Running head: NURSING EPIDEMIOLOGY
Nursing epidemiology
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

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Answer 1- A change in surveillance that would overestimate the likelihood of an outbreak
Answer 2- Outbreak investigation
Answer 3-
Active surveillance- 3) Ebola, Enterovirus and foodborne infection
Passive surveillance- 2) Rabies, Cholera, STI, measles and lyme disease
Chronic condition- 4) Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease
Acute illness/injury: 1) Sexually transmitted infections, measles and flu
Answer 4: True
Answer 5: False
Answer 6: False
Answer 7: Sentinel surveillance system
Answer 8: Change in policy for reporting, FDA approval of a new diagnostic laboratory test and
true increase in incidence
Answer 9: It should be appropriately investigated by the CDC
Answer 10: True
Answer 11: 25/80
Answer 12: The hypothesized exposure or risk
Answer 13: Confirm the diagnosis

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Answer 14: After establishing the existence of an outbreak
Answer 15: Discover ways to prevent further spread of the disease
Answer 16: vehicle
Answer 17: False
Answer 18: Perform a case control study in which the cases are the guest who ate salmon
mousse and the controls are those who did not
Answer 19: Cross-sectional study
Answer 20: To guide public health policy for disease control
Answer 21:Etiology and progression of TB:
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease condition cause by the bacterium Mycobacterium
tuberculosis resulting in symptoms like fever, weight loss, fatigue and night sweats. It mainly
affects the lungs leading to chest pain and prolonged cough with sputum. The disease is
transmitted when people with active TB cough, sneeze or speak and expels infected aerosol
droplets in air. Close contact and family members of patients are at high risk of being infected.
However, the chances of transmission also depends on infectious droplets expelled, virulent of
the bacterial strain, duration of exposure and the level of immunity of the person (Grandjean et
al. 2015). There are certain other condition behind the etiology of TB. For example, tuberculosis
bacteria survices mainly in dark areas, air droplets or surface of any object. Hence, chances of
TB infection is high in crowded areas, areas with high population density and people living in
close places. Alcoholism and malnutrition also promotes transmission of the disease and risk of
infection (Imtiaz et al. 2017).

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Etiology and progression of rabies:
Rabies is a preventable viral disease mainly caused by lyssaviruses which affects the
central nervous system. The virus mainly evades immune surveillance and enters the peripheral
nerves after inoculation. After a prolonged incubation period, the rabies virus travels along the
axon and enter the spinal ganglion. Multiplication of the virus in the nervous system is mainly
associated with onset of pain the symptom of rapid progressive encephalitis is seen when virus
spreads into the CNS. It does not cause cytotoxicity, however death results in patient due to
organ dysfunction. As dogs are the main source of human rabies transmission to humans,
vaccination of dogs and prevention of dog bites is the most feasible option to eliminate rabies
(World Health Organization 2017).
Answer 22:
Individual risk from group experience of a disease can be estimated in an outbreak
investigation by estimating about individual’s chances and risk of disease. Modern
epidemiological investigation establishes string link between exposure to incidence of infection
in a population. Such studies focus on measuring exposure at individual level. Ecological, cross-
sectional studies, cohort studies and case-control studies help to evaluate risk in individual group
of patients (Blumenthal, Fleisher and Peasey 2017).
Gathering information about group risk informs disease prevention strategies because the
data gives information about time, place and characteristics of person leading to risk of disease.
It helps to identify the specific source or cause of disease and it enable quick action to eliminate
the disease causing agent. Data collected either by individual approach or population approach
ensures that socially vulnerable communities are identified and public health preparedness and

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response can be taken accordingly. The integration of data also improves communication plans
and ensures that proper disease surveillance and screening method is implemented for the at-risk
group (Blumenthal, Fleisher and Peasey 2017).

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Reference
Blumenthal, U., Fleisher, J., and Peasey, A. 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017, from
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/iwachap7.pdf
Grandjean, L., Gilman, R.H., Martin, L., Soto, E., Castro, B., Lopez, S., Coronel, J., Castillo, E.,
Alarcon, V., Lopez, V. and San Miguel, A., 2015. Transmission of multidrug-resistant and drug-
susceptible tuberculosis within households: a prospective cohort study. PLoS medicine, 12(6),
p.e1001843.
Imtiaz, S., Shield, K.D., Roerecke, M., Samokhvalov, A.V., Lönnroth, K. and Rehm, J., 2017.
Alcohol consumption as a risk factor for tuberculosis: meta-analyses and burden of
disease. European Respiratory Journal, 50(1), p.1700216.
World Health Organization. 2017. Rabies. Retrieved 4 November 2017, from
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs099/en/