Research paper

Select an infectious disease to explore in detail, by using a descriptive epidemiologic approach. Apply the epidemiologic triangle to the occurrence of infectious or communicable disease (for example, variations in severity of illness, components of the infectious disease process, mechanisms of disease transmission, and common source versus communicable disease outbreaks).

The objectives of this written exercise are as follows: to gain experience in describing and analyzing the distribution of a health disorder in a population; to become familiar with various sources of data for the epidemiologic description of a health disorder; to enhance the ability to make sound epidemiologic judgments related to public health problems.

Requirements: APA-style, use at least five sources of research for data; other data may be obtained from factsheets and info from CDC, NIH, etc. Paper should be at least 7 written pages, have a cover page/running head, references/bibliography (at least five sources from a variety of epidemiological data sources), graphics/illustrations as appendices.

Potential topic choices include: TB, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis A, HPV, Lyme disease, malaria, measles, West Nile, typhoid fever, tetanus, Legionnaires disease, bacterial meningitis, Ebola, hantavirus, or other infectious or communicable disease.

Section headings of paper to include: Definition of problem; Description of agent and condition; Distribution of health problem; Summary of current hypotheses; Principal gaps in knowledge; Suggestions for further epidemiologic research.

Chosen topic to discuss: Tuberculosis (TB)