Case Study
Marge (F, age 73) and Stu Pendous (M, age 72) decided to go on a safari to Botswana with some of their fellow Toledo Zoo members as part of a group vacation. While seeing a great deal of wildlife, they dined on local cuisine including animals hunted and killed by local bushmen. Marge and Stu returned to the States with their zoo friends but stayed in Detroit for three days and hit the casinos. After winning a little money for gasoline, they drove home to Toledo. That evening, Stu could not get to sleep. He felt fatigued and not just from the jetlag. Marge took his temperature and he had a fever of 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit. He was in a lot of pain and could not keep any food down. Marge was not febrile but she did have a headache and pain behind her eyes. Marge’s sister, Terri, takes them to University of Toledo Medical Center for treatment.
The local hospital health care professionals are doing their best to treat the couple but are not sure what might be the source of the problem. They call the local public health department and request the epidemiologists to come in and investigate.
Epidemiologists (You) need to develop questions to ask both Marge and Stu.
Q1. From an epidemiologist’s perspective, what questions would you ask to obtain a complete history? This presumes you have some clinical data with which to use as a guide.
Q2. For the clinical professionals in the class, what questions would you ask to obtain a complete history?
· Are there any specific tests you would run at the beginning compared to others based on what the patients report?
Q3. As an epidemiologist, what can be done with test results that identify the causative agent?
· In other words, how would you communicate these results to the patient(s) and what recommendations would you provide for future prevention?
Interview.
Q1. What tests would you recommend the health care providers to run?
Q2. What other information would you need to gather? Who else would you want to interview? Who do you call? Who do you see?
Q3. What work must be done in Botswana? How do you determine where the disease was contracted?
Q4. What alerts need to be put in place and why?
Q5. What disease is the culprit in this situation?
This case study allows you to investigate a mysterious disease that may or may not have been acquired in another country. You must investigate and find the source, then work to prevent and/or quickly identify other cases that may have or will occur.