Reference no: EM133219735

Using Health Education and Groups in the Community

Case Study: On the morning of March 11, the Texas Department of Health (TDH) in Austin received a telephone call from a student at a university in south-central Texas. The student reported that he and his roommate, a fraternity brother, were suffering from nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Both had become ill during the night. The roommate had taken an over-the-counter medication with some relief of his symptoms. Neither the student nor his roommate had seen a physician or gone to the emergency room. The students believed their illness was due to food they had eaten at a local pizzeria the previous night. They asked if they should attend classes and take a biology mid-term exam that was scheduled that afternoon.

A call to the emergency room at a local hospital (Hospital A) revealed that 23 university students had been seen for acute gastroenteritis in the last 24 hours. In contrast, only three patients had been seen at the emergency room for similar symptoms from March 5-9, none of whom were associated with the university. At 10:30 A.M., the physician from the University Student Health Center returned the call from TDH and reported that 20 students with vomiting and diarrhea had been seen the previous day.

Do you think these cases of gastroenteritis represent an outbreak at the university? Why or why not? From this case scenario, what kinds of questions would you ask the students and why? What would you advise the student about attending classes that day? What agencies or departments would you interview? What kind of teaching/education plan would you develop to prevent this from happening again using the epidemiological triangle as a teaching point?