Write an essay on the history of the disease (discovery, identification, cases)
– Where did the disease originate?
– When it was first observed?
– Major outbreaks, epidemics, or important cases (not just
listing, ones that changed our understanding)
•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?
– How does it spread?
– How do symptoms influence transmission?
– What is a case definition?
– Who is at risk/what are the risk factors?
– What happens during an outbreak?
– How do we engage in surveillance?
– How bad is the infectivity? Pathogenicity? Virulence?
– What are mortality rates? Survival rates?
Current Research, and future
• 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?
