Question

PART I Background On April 19. 1940, the local health officer in the village of Lycoming, Oswego County, New York, reported the occurrence of an outbreak of acute gastrointestinal illness to the District Health Officer in Syracuse. Dr. A. M. Rubin, epidemiologist-in-training, was assigned to conduct an investigation. previous evening. April 18. Family members who did not attend the church supper did not become ill. Accordingly, Dr. Rubin focused the investigation on the supper. He completed Interviews with 75 of the 80 persons known to have attended, collecting information about the occurrence and time of onset of symptoms, and foods consumed. Of the 75 persons interviewed, 48 persons reported gastrointestinal illness. When Dr. Rubin arrived in the field. he learned from the health officer that all persons known to be ill had attended a church supper held on the Question 1 Do you believe this is an outbreak? Explain your answer.

Answer 1

According to WHO a disease outbreak is defined as the occurrence of cases of the disease in excess of what would normally be expected in a defined community, geographical area or season. It may occur in a restricted geographical area, or/ and can extend over several countries. The duration may last for a few days or weeks, or for several years.

As a special consideration a single case of a communicable disease long absent from a population, or caused by a new agent not previously recognized in that community or area, or the occurrence of a previously unknown disease, may also constitute an outbreak and should be reported and investigated.

According to CDC, an outbreak is an incident in which two or more persons experience a similar illness after ingestion of a common food, and epidemiologic analysis implicates the food as the source of the illness.

In the reported cases 48 people are affected by the gastrointestinal illness following a church supper. This matches with the CDC definition of the disease outbreak. The source of illness could be the church supper as the affected people’s family members who did not attend the supper were not affected.