PUB 540 Oswego Outbreak Investigation<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

PUB 540 Oswego Outbreak Investigation<\/p>\n

The incubation period, source, and transmission<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to the data presented, the average incubation period of the illness was 4 hours. Most illnesses occurred at 12:30 am and beyond, and the supper took place between 6.00 pm and 11.00 pm. The source of the outbreak was ice cream, which had been prepared a day earlier prior to the church supper. The people involved in the preparation were the Petrie sisters. Transmission possibly occurred through oral ingestion, causing the pathogen to pass from the ice cream to human hosts.<\/p>\n

Potential Infectious Agents <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Bacillus cereus<\/em> – has an incubation period of 1-8 hours, and symptoms include vomiting and, in some cases, diarrhea and fever.<\/p>\n

Staphylococcus aureus<\/em> \u2013 has an incubation period of 30 mins to 8 hours mostly concentrated between 2-4 hours. The symptoms are vomiting and diarrhea.<\/p>\n

Why is this considered an outbreak? Discuss the criteria for why it is considered an outbreak<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The illness was an outbreak of gastrointestinal<\/a> illness. An outbreak occurs when the cases of affected people by a particular disease exceed what is normally expected. Classifying cases as outbreaks depends on the disease’s cause and the type and size of existing and previous exposure to the cause. According to CDC, the criteria for an outbreak include cases having a common cause; for example, in the Oswego case, the affected patients attended the same supper where the illness originated\u00a0(CDC, 2018). Another criterion is the cluster of cases. In this case, the cases are unusually concentrated in a specific area.<\/p>\n

Describe the steps required to investigate an outbreak and apply each step to the Oswego event. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

The first step is to verify the diagnosis and confirm the outbreak, using baseline surveillance data to determine if the reported cases<\/p>\n