

The cause of the outbreak was traced to what is called "artisanal gold mining," or small-scale mining using primitive tools and little, if any, protective equipment. CDC scientists raced to the scene, where tests quickly showed that the children (and some adults) had severe lead poisoning. In May 2010, Doctors Without Borders contacted the CDC and other groups after it discovered that a staggering number of children were dying in villages in a remote part of Zamfara Province. This fictional scenario is based on a real-life outbreak that is still claiming lives in Nigeria. Based on the epi curve, which of the following do you think is happening?

Disease Detectives worked in each of these cases to determine the cause of the outbreak.Īnthrax also has been used as a bioterrorist threat in the United States.

In 2009, a New Hampshire woman became sick with gastrointestinal anthrax (a very rare form of the disease that causes flu-like symptoms, sore throat, nausea, and diarrhea) after participating in a drumming event. Your hard work helped to solve this outbreak!Īlthough this scenario was not real, there have been several real-life investigations of anthrax illness involving drums made of contaminated animal hides.ĭisease Detectives worked in 2006 to determine that a drum maker in Pennsylvania caught inhalation anthrax by working with dried goat hides that had traces of anthrax spores.
