Epidemiology Case Assignment

PLEASE READ THE SUMMARY FIRST !!!  Summary: You are a public health professional recently hired to take over as the head of the local health department of a rather affluent community in the Southwest United States. The city boasts a healthful lifestyle and seems to have minimal health issues. The local community hospital is seldom busy, save for routine health issues. However, one day, this all began to change with a sudden “outbreak” of children and older adults complaining of unexplained feelings of tiredness, fever, cough, headaches, muscle and joint pain. You are contacted by the head physician of the local hospital who informs you that several patients have tested positive for coccidioidomycosis.  Based on this scenario, please address the following questions: 1. Discuss why this is a problem for the field of epidemiology  2. What approach would the epidemiologist use to examine this issue?  3. What surveillance methods would you use to obtain the most useful information about the sudden occurrence of coccidioidomycosis cases?  4. What concepts of descriptive and/or analytic epidemiology would be applicable to this issue? 5. What data systems could be used to gather information on this 1 / 3 problem? What comparisons would be made?  6. What secondary surveillance data would be useful? Would secondary surveillance data be helpful in this case? Why or why not?  7. How would you decide whether or not this was an “outbreak?”  8. Outline the steps you would take to develop an outbreak response plan  Instructions : Please write an “executive summary” and place it at the beginning of your paper. APA style format  Must be double-spaced with 1-inch margins and typed in 12-point Times New Roman. Your Essay should have a Purpose statement , Conclusion ,Title Page and Reference Page.  Essays should be proofread for spelling and grammar mistakes.  You must cite all texts used, including page numbers to avoid plagiarism.