Disease Detectives B PDF | Science Olympiad

DISEASE DETECTIVES B See General Rules, Eye Protection & other Policies on www.soinc.org as they apply to every event. 1. DESCRIPTION: Participants will use their investigative skills in the scientific study of disease, injury, health, and disability in populations or grou...

DISEASE DETECTIVES B See General Rules, Eye Protection & other Policies on www.soinc.org as they apply to every event. 1. DESCRIPTION: Participants will use their investigative skills in the scientific study of disease, injury, health, and disability in populations or groups of people. A TEAM OF UP TO: 2 CALCULATOR: Class II APPROXIMATE TIME: 50 minutes 2. EVENT PARAMETERS: Each team may bring one 8.5” x 11” sheet of paper, which may be in a sheet protector sealed by tape or laminated, that may contain information on both sides in any form and from any source without any annotations or labels affixed, along with two stand-alone non-programmable, non-graphing calculators (Class II). 3. THE COMPETITION: a. This event addresses three topics related to disease, injury, health, and disability in populations or B groups of people. Each part should count approximately equally towards a team’s final score. Questions should be process-oriented and involve skills in evaluation and interpretation. Matching pathogens with specific diseases (i.e. – What causes X disease?) or knowledge of signs, symptoms or epidemiologic characteristics such as incubation or latency periods or infectious dose is not part of this event. However, it is appropriate to provide this information as background information and expect competitors to be able to use it. b. The topics for this event are as follows: i. Background & Surveillance (1) Understand the Clinical Approach (health of individuals) vs Public Health Approach (health of populations) (2) Understand the history and development of epidemiology (3) Understand the roles of epidemiology in public health and the steps in solving health problems (4) Understand the Natural History and Spectrum of Disease. Understand in broad terms the impact of infectious (bacterial, viral, fungal, protist and prion diseases) and noninfectious causes of disease (such as accidents, exposures, and toxicities) (5) Understand the basic epidemiological and public health terms found in the glossary of CDC’s Principles of Epidemiology in Public Health Practice (e.g., outbreak, epidemic, pandemic, surveillance, risk, vector, etc.) (6) Understand the role of Surveillance in identifying health problems, the 5-Step Process for Surveillance, and the types of surveillance and the attributes of a surveillance system ii. Outbreak Investigation (1) Analyze actual or hypothetical outbreaks given in case scenarios (2) Understand Experimental and Observational studies and the Types of Epidemiological Studies – (e.g., case control, cohort, ecological, cross-sectional). Know the advantages and disadvantages of each. Recognize various fundamental study designs and identify which is appropriate to use in analysis of presented outbreak scenarios (3) Identify the Steps in an Outbreak Investigation and how they guide hypothesis generation (4) Identify the problem using person, place, and time triad to formulate case definitions (5) Interpret epi curves, line listings, cluster maps, subdivided tables, PFGE gels, SNP mapping and the PulseNet concept (6) Understand the agent, host, environment triad and chain of transmission (7) Evaluate data by calculating and comparing simple rates and proportions such as attack rate, relative risk, odds-ratio, and explain their meaning. Determine whether presented data support hypotheses of disease within scenarios, and revise hypotheses as appropriate. (8) Apply the Bradford Hill Criteria for Verifying the Cause of presented outbreaks. Compare the accuracy of Bradford Hill criteria, Koch’s and Evan’s postulates, and newer causality models such as Directed Acyclic graphs, Sufficient/component cause models, and GRADE methods (9) Understand the concept of herd immunity. Be able to calculate and interpret herd immunity threshold, basic and effective reproductive numbers ©2025-B13  DISEASE DETECTIVES B (CONT.) See General Rules, Eye Protection & other Policies on www.soinc.org as they apply to every event. iii. Patterns, Control, and Prevention (1) Identify patterns and trends of epidemiologic data in charts, tables and graphs. (2) Using given data, calculate disease risk and frequency ratio, proportion, incidence proportion (attack rate), incidence rate, prevalence death rate and mortality rate (3) Understand the Strategies of Disease Control as they apply to given disease scenarios (4) Understand Strategies for Prevention, including the Scope and Levels of Prevention, 4. SCORING: a. High score wins. Selected questions may be used as tiebreakers. b. Points will be assigned to the various questions and problems. Both the nature of the questions and scoring will emphasize an understanding that is broad and basic rather than detailed and advanced. c. Depending on the problem, scoring may be based on a combination of answers, including graphs/charts, B explanations, analysis, calculations, and closed-ended responses to specific questions. Critical reasoning skills and data interpretation with hypothesis generation will be evaluated. d. Points will be awarded for both quality and accuracy of answers, the quality of supporting reasoning, and the use of proper scientific methods. Recommended Resources: The Science Olympiad Store (store.soinc.org) carries a variety of resources to purchase; other resources are on the Event Pages at soinc.org. In partnership with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) ©2025-B14  POTIONS & POISONS B See General Rules, Eye Protection & other Policies on www.soinc.org as they apply to every event. 1. DESCRIPTION: This event is about chemical properties and effects of specified toxic and therapeutic chemical substances, with a focus on household and environmental toxins or poisons. A TEAM OF UP TO: 2 EYE PROTECTION: C CALCULATOR: Class II APPROXIMATE TIME: 50 minutes 2. EVENT PARAMETERS: a. Each participant must bring safety equipment (e.g., goggles, lab coat, apron), a writing implement, and may bring a calculator (Class II). b. Each participant may bring one unique 8.5” x 11” sheet of paper, which may be in a sheet protector sealed by tape or laminated, with information on both sides in any form and from any source. c. Teams should bring any or all of the items listed on the Division B Chemistry Events Lab Equipment List, B posted on soinc.org. Teams not bringing these items will be at a disadvantage, as they are not provided. d. Participants must wear goggles, an apron or a lab coat and have skin covered from the neck down to the wrists and toes. Gloves are optional, but if the host requires a specific type, they will notify teams. Pants should be loose fitting; if the host has more specific guidelines, they will notify teams in advance of the tournament. Shoulder-length or longer hair must be tied back. Participants removing safety clothing/ goggles or unsafely handling materials, or equipment will be penalized or disqualified. e. Supervisors will provide any required reagents, additional glassware, and/or references that are needed for the tasks (e.g., Periodic Table, etc.) 3. THE COMPETITION: The competition will be conducted in two parts. a. Part 1--Exam: This part should be a multiple-choice and short answer test covering the following subject areas: Students should understand ionic and covalent bonds, and the differences between mixtures, solutions and compounds. Students may be asked how to separate components of a mixture. Students should distinguish between physical and chemical changes. Students may be asked to balance a simple chemical equation. Students may be asked to identify various poisonous plants and animals, and their toxic effects. Students may be given a map and be asked to analyze the potential patterns of spread of toxic spills in the environment via water, wind or gravity. Students should understand the effects and chemistry of common household toxins. Students should understand the effect of dilution on toxicity. The test may include information on the following specific toxins: i. Household chemicals: ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, bleach, Epsom salts, vinegar, nutritional supplements containing calcium and iron. ii. Toxic living organisms: poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), jequirity bean (Abrus precatorius), deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), castor bean (Ricinus communis), blue ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena sp), black widow spider (Latrodectus mactans), cone snail (Conus sp), and timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) iii. Environmental toxins: arsenic, lead, and mercury. b. Part 2--Lab: Students should be asked to perform at least one lab task themselves. Other lab exercises may be performed as a demonstration, at the discretion of the event supervisor. Lab activities should be drawn from: chromatography, mixtures of reagents, separation of a mixture, serial dilutions, determination of pH, and conductivity testing. Reagents may be mixed by students or the event supervisor with subsequent observation of changes in temperature or color, production of a gas or a precipitate, the relative rate of a chemical reaction or other parameters. Students may be asked if a particular change is a physical or chemical change. 4. SCORING: Part 1: Test questions are worth 60% of the competition Part 2: Lab questions are worth 40% of the score. Selected questions or quality of free response answers will be used to break ties. Recommended Resources: The Science Olympiad Store (store.soinc.org) carries a variety of resources to purchase; other resources are on the Event Pages at soinc.org. ©2025-B43