Disease Detectives B/C

[Iamgoing2Mars2]

Does anybody know what the yearly topic is this year? I'm starting late and want to focus my efforts.

[EwwPhysics]

Does anybody know what the yearly topic is this year? I'm starting late and want to focus my efforts.

As of last year, disease does not have a yearly topic, so you'll want to focus most of your studying on statistics and basics of epidemiology. Occasionally, you may find some questions about specific diseases because test writers do not read the rules or read rules from previous years (most likely you'll be tested on some foodborne illnesses because that was the last topic before they stopped the rotation). You might want to have some basic information such as mode of transmission, incubation period, and symptoms for the diseases that come up most often on tests.

Good luck!

[parkashlakshmi]

Hi, I am new to SciOly, and I just wanted to ask what are some good resources for DD, or what I should focus on when studying?

[cards104171]

Hi, I am new to SciOly, and I just wanted to ask what are some good resources for DD, or what I should focus on when studying?

Hi! It's my first year of DD, but this resource can prove helpful:
soinc.org,
The official Science Olympiad website (nationally). Go to B/C division events, then click on DD. There are some resources listed there. Also, checking out the Disease Detectives wiki page is also helpful for beginners.
Hope that helped

[vye904]

Hi, I am new to SciOly, and I just wanted to ask what are some good resources for DD, or what I should focus on when studying?

Hi! It's my first year of DD, but this resource can prove helpful:
soinc.org,
The official Science Olympiad website (nationally). Go to B/C division events, then click on DD. There are some resources listed there. Also, checking out the Disease Detectives wiki page is also helpful for beginners.
Hope that helped

^^ The training handouts/packets on soinc are great for learning basics. This CDC textbook: https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dsepd/ss1978/index.html is also a good resource. It has practice questions and answers at the end of each lesson. "Lesson One: Introduction to Epidemiology" was great for starting out. The disease scioly wiki has most of the basic formulas and a good amount of information you'd need on a notesheet. Good luck!

[stlcards422]

How do you make a case defenition?

[stlcards422]

How do you make a case defenition?

Disclaimer: I'm not that good at disease so there are probably errors in my example/explanation but oh well

Here's the section from the CDC textbook on case definitions

Basically, you have to take the information given to you (often in a line listing) and determine what should be considered to be a confirmed, probable, or suspected case (although sometimes tests are just looking for the confirmed case definition, not probable/suspected).
Case definitions usually take into account clinical diagnosis, symptoms, time, and place. Here's a quick example:

EwwPhysics went to a dinner party on February 28th, 2021. 3 days later, she developed symptoms such as fever, nausea, vomiting, etc. You receive reports of other people who attended the dinner party developing symptoms anywhere between 3 and 7 days after the party. Later, you identify the cause of the disease to be a new bacteria called Sciolia, and develop a test which can identify it.

A confirmed case would be someone with lab confirmation for Sciolia.
A probable case would be someone (without lab confirmation) who attended the dinner party, has symptoms, and developed them around 3-7 days after 28 Feb 21.
A suspected case would have symptoms.

tldr; making case definitions is like most other things in disease detectives, just try to bs something that sounds reasonable and you'll probably get partial credit

Hope this helps!

[Flavorflav]

How do you make a case defenition?

Disclaimer: I'm not that good at disease so there are probably errors in my example/explanation but oh well

Here's the section from the CDC textbook on case definitions

Basically, you have to take the information given to you (often in a line listing) and determine what should be considered to be a confirmed, probable, or suspected case (although sometimes tests are just looking for the confirmed case definition, not probable/suspected).
Case definitions usually take into account clinical diagnosis, symptoms, time, and place. Here's a quick example:

EwwPhysics went to a dinner party on February 28th, 2021. 3 days later, she developed symptoms such as fever, nausea, vomiting, etc. You receive reports of other people who attended the dinner party developing symptoms anywhere between 3 and 7 days after the party. Later, you identify the cause of the disease to be a new bacteria called Sciolia, and develop a test which can identify it.

A confirmed case would be someone with lab confirmation for Sciolia.
A probable case would be someone (without lab confirmation) who attended the dinner party, has symptoms, and developed them around 3-7 days after 28 Feb 21.
A suspected case would have symptoms.

tldr; making case definitions is like most other things in disease detectives, just try to bs something that sounds reasonable and you'll probably get partial credit

Hope this helps!

[Flavorflav]

A classic case definition should have at least three elements: person, place and time. Only the second of your definitions would earn full points on one of my tests.

[EwwPhysics]

A classic case definition should have at least three elements: person, place and time. Only the second of your definitions would earn full points on one of my tests.

Ok, thanks for the feedback! How would you suggest incorporating person/place/time into a suspected case definition, where some of these elements may not be defined? Would something like "may or may not have attended the dinner party" work? Also, for the confirmed case definition would you accept something like "a probable case with lab confirmation" or do you suggest re-writing the conditions for a probable case?
Thank you!