Disease Outbreak Investigation

• PLTW (Project Lead The Way) Disease Defense Team (DDT) headquarters received a call from Garcia Newgard Memorial Hospital (GNMH) for help with a public health issue.
• The DDT will investigate the outbreak, determine the source and cause of the infections, and develop a strategy for resolving the outbreak and preventing new infections.
• The downloaded GNMH Hospital Hub app is used by hospital staff to access and log information such as patient summaries, staff schedules, and equipment and materials logs.

Investigative Team Responsibilities

• Draft an email recommending steps to limit the spread of illness.
• The email should be sent to the Chief Medical Officer and Director of Nursing at GNMH.
• The Chief Medical Officer email is [email protected]
• Understand the role of epidemiology and epidemiologists in investigating and resolving health events.
• Document and analyze information about a group of infected patients.
• Discuss the importance of strategic communication in epidemiology.

Epidemiology

• This is the study of the role of epidemiologists in investigating and resolving health events.
• The PLTW Disease Defense Team (DDT) is an organization that operates at the national level to protect and improve the health of people and their communities.
• Epidemiologists are health care experts who study trends in health issues in populations.
• They deploy public announcements, education initiatives, and protocols to protect the health of the nation.
• Epidemiologists investigate health-related matters such as disease outbreaks and chronic illnesses.
• They gather information, examine data, and look for patterns.
• This information helps them define the health issue of concern, determine the cause(s), establish a timeline, and develop solutions, treatments, and preventative measures.
• They need to have knowledge of clinical medicine, pathology, biostatistics, and social science.

Terminology

• It is important to understand how widespread a particular disease is and who is at risk of being exposed to it to describe the frequency or number of cases of a disease in a population.
• Sporadic - Disease that occurs infrequently and irregularly.
• Epidemic - The sudden increase in the number of cases of a disease in a population.
• Outbreak - A sudden increase in the occurrence of a disease in a localized area.
• Endemic - A disease perpetually present in a community or population within a specific geographic area. Example: malaria in Africa, South American and Asia.
• Pandemic - An epidemic that has spread across several countries or continents and affects a large number of people.

Initial Investigation

• Update from the Chief Medical Officer and Director of Nursing found that patients illnesses are not chronic or congenital which meant they weren't born with it.
• The patients were also not showing symptoms when they entered the hospital, but had overlapping stays.
• Staff at GNMH believe these are nosocomial or hospital-acquired infections (HAI).
• About 1 in 31 patients in a hospital has at least one nosocomial infection.
• Common types of HAI infections are pneumonia, gastrointestinal infections, urinary tract infections, bloodstream infections, and skin and soft tissue infections.

Ethical Scenario

• During an outbreak, epidemiologists need to be strategic about communication, including the audience, timing, and the method of delivery.
• Audience - The public, health care professionals or governmental organizations.
• Timing - Releasing information too early could cause undue panic, but communicating too late may risk additional exposure or incidents.
• Method of Delivery - Press releases, media interviews, social media, and journal articles.