scientific report : plague disease

/in /by

THE topic is going to be on the plague disease • Written as a scientific review paper.

• Must include at least 10 references (scientific references are texts or peer reviewed journals, not websites) • Must be at least 12 pages, double spaced, Arial or Times Roman 12 point font, 1 inch margins – Not counting cover page or references cited. – Images, tables, graphs should all be on their own page, with figure text below (these do not count towards the 12 pages).

Reports • Report must include 4 sections (10 points each): – History of the disease (discovery, identification, important cases, important breakthroughs, etc.)

– Biology/symptoms of the disease

– Epidemiology/transmission of the disease, including current research

– Mathematical modeling of the disease • Each section must be at least 2 pages.

– Epidemiology section must be at least 4 pages

• Note

– not just about the biology of the pathogen! • Questions to answer in your report:

– Where did the disease originate?

– When it was first observed? Who discovered it? How did they identify it? What misconceptions did they have initially about the disease?

– Major outbreaks, epidemics, or important cases (ones that changed our understanding of the disease) Report: Biology/Symptoms

• Biology/Symptoms of the disease

– What is it? (virus, parasite, bacteria, etc)

– What effect does it have?

– What are the symptoms?

– Is it treatable? How is it treated?

– Is it terminal? Chronic? Report: Epidemiology

• Questions to ask:

– How does it spread?

– How do symptoms influence transmission?

– What is a case definition? Who developed this? How has it changed?

– Who is at risk/what are the risk factors?

– What happens during an outbreak (response)?

– How do we engage in surveillance?

– How bad is the infectivity? Pathogenicity? Virulence?

– What are morbidity and mortality rates? Survival rates?

– What are the current incidence and prevalence numbers?

– What happens after you get the disease?

Report: Epidemiology

• Can it be controlled? Eradicated? If so, how?

• What past control/eradication efforts have there been? Why did they not work (or if they did, why did they work?)

• What kind of epidemiological research is being done on the disease?

– Give specific examples, including research results

– Current research is NOT vaccines and treatment Report: Modeling

• What kind of mathematical models are used to make predictions about this disease?

• What are some of the variables that have been calculated (R0, transmission rate, recovery rate, etc)?

• How accurate are the predictions?

• How has a model been used in control or eradication?

• Give an example of a model, and the predictions that it has made.

– The model should be specific to the disease, not just repeating what we learn in class