Assignment: Investigating Pandemics/Epidemics
Assignment: Investigating Pandemics/Epidemics
Investigating Pandemics and Epidemics
Some of the most notable epidemics include the bubonic plague in the 14th century, smallpox in the 18th century, and influenza in the 20th century. Reportedly, the bubonic plague caused over 137 million deaths, whereas the death toll associated with influenza was 25 million (Ernst, 2001). These are dramatic examples of the kinds of acute outbreaks that led to the practice of epidemiology.
Many epidemiologists and health care professionals are concerned about the next potential pandemic or epidemic. With the increased mobility of society, the spread of infectious diseases continues to pose a serious threat. For this Discussion, you will investigate pandemics and epidemics using epidemiological tools, and you will consider strategies for mitigating disease outbreaks.
To prepare:
Using the Learning Resources, consider examples of emerging or reemerging infectious diseases that are occurring locally, nationally, or abroad. Then, select one example on which to focus.
Explore the epidemiological investigative process used to identify the emerging or reemerging infectious disease or outbreak.
Examine your selected infectious disease using the epidemiologic triangle and vector theory.
Consider how health care interventions may reduce the emergence or reemergence of infectious diseases.
By tomorrow 04/25/2018 12pm, write a minimum of 550 words in APA format with at least 3 scholarly references from the list of required readings below. Include the level one headings as numbered below”
Post a cohesive response that addresses the following:
1) Identify the emerging or reemerging infectious disease you selected.
2) Discuss the investigative process used to identify the outbreak, and describe its effect using descriptive epidemiology (person, place, and time).
3) Apply the epidemiologic triangle and vector theory to your selected outbreak.
4) Evaluate how prior health care interventions, or lack thereof, created the conditions that allowed this infectious disease to emerge.
5) Discuss how the disease outbreak might have been avoided or mitigated. Include agencies, organizations, and resources that could have supported these efforts. If appropriate, consider ongoing efforts to control the outbreak.
Required Readings
Friis, R. H., & Sellers, T. A. (2014). Epidemiology for public health practice (5th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Chapter 12, “Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases”
In this chapter, the authors examine the epidemiology of infectious diseases, one of the most familiar applications of epidemiology.
Martin, T. W., Stevens, L., & Miller, J. W. (2011). Rare germ drives outbreak. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303745304576360780812512492?mod=djemHL_t&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303745304576360780812512492.html%3Fmod%3DdjemHL_t
In news coverage of a deadly outbreak, the authors note unusual aspects of the situation, as well as the economic, political, and personal ramifications.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). CDC says “Take 3” actions to fight the flu. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/preventing.htm
This page contains the CDC’s most up-to-date recommendations regarding the prevention of seasonal flu. In addition to this page, you may wish to explore the CDC’s Seasonal Influenza home page, http://www.cdc.gov/flu/
World Health Organization. (2012). Disease outbreak news. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/csr/don/en/
The World Health Organization (WHO) provides information on the most recent disease outbreaks around the world. Stay up to date by visiting this site.
HealthMap. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.healthmap.org/en
Explore this interactive map that lists disease outbreaks around the world.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Morbidity and mortality weekly report: Summary of notifiable diseases. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwr_nd/index.html
Review the most current report on infectious diseases as reported by health care providers to state or local authorities. According to the CDC, “A disease is designated as notifiable if timely information about individual cases is considered necessary for prevention and control of the disease.” This report highlights infectious diseases reported in 2009.
Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2012). Epidemiology and population health: Infectious disease: Two case studies [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 8 minutes.
In this week’s program, the presenters discuss HIV and AIDS.
Assignment: Investigating Pandemics/Epidemics
Assignment: Investigating Pandemics/Epidemics
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
