Epidemiologists Trace Origin of 11 'Blue Men' Disease: Rigid, Cyanotic, Shock - Essay Sample

Introduction

Epidemiologists need to map the timelines so that they can trace the root of the illness and to find out whether there is a connection between the patients. To offer the solution, the epidemiologists need to trace where the problem is originating from.

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Key Symptoms

The eleven blue men's disease has symptoms like rigid, cyanotic, and the patients were often in a state of shock. The most distinctive trait is that all the older men were blue. Upon diagnosis, they are all moved to the Beekman-Downtown Hospital Emergency Department, in the south corner of Manhattan, north of Wall Street, just below Bowery. The hospital believes that all men had carbon monoxide poisoning that blocks the transport of oxygen to the blood. The two representatives phoned by a letter from the Health Department in New York City, and two staff are investigating: Dr. Morris Greenberg, Chief of the Health Department, and Dr. Ottavio Pellitteri, an epidemiologist.

Steps of The Outbreak Investigation

The investigation of an outbreak starts when two or more patients have been presented to a hospital deploying the same conditions. This is the preparation stage, which involves a close examination of the symptoms, how the illness is transmitted, and the control measures that exist (McKenna, 2017). The epidemiologists got involved because the illness was getting distributed, and it needed control. The investigation step includes sending the medical reports to the department administrative officer. The process then would consist of making assumptions through the symptoms. The epidemiologists handling the case need to agree on a possible situation (Robinson et al., 2013). Some of the individuals questioned include the cafeteria staff and the cooks from Eclipse. The investigation confirmed that someone accidentally mistook nitrate with nitrite, later having effects on the patients.

Questions Asked To The Patients

Dr. Greenberg and Dr. Pellitteri asked the patients some crucial questions that helped in diagnosis. The issues include; the food that the patients had consumed before the outbreak. The other problem is where they eat before the symptoms broke out. The last question was when they had eaten-the items rotated around the food that they eat. The epidemiologists asked the Eclipse Cafeteria employees some issues that were crucial in determining the cause of the disease outbreak. The questions revolved around the state of their working environment.

Questions Asked At Eclipse

Cases also intrigued Greenberg and Pellitteri, but the interpretation remains uncertain. You note that certain people are alive, aware, and sultry; these signs do not equal carbon monoxide harming, which makes you exhausted or insane if you survive. Every day, everybody has breakfast in one place, just a few blocks from the hospital, the Eclipse Cafeteria, Chatham Square. Not all of them had eaten together, though. If it had killed them in the cafeteria, it must have been a matter of hours - but the cafeteria was busy all morning, so the only victims were those men. One more thing they find is that all the residents have eaten oatmeal.

Final Culprit

The final culprit was the salt. The cook accidentally confused sodium nitrate with sodium nitrite. Both taste and look the same, making it easy for individuals to use nitrite thinking it was nitrate. The culprit discovered after the cook arguably thought he had made a mistake refilling the salt.

The Affected

The affected patients identified to have sat at a specific table that contained the culprit nitrite. The patients also identified has drunkards who needed a huge amount of salt. Through their need for salt, they unknowingly consumed sodium nitrite, making them ill.

References

McKenna, M. (2017, June 3). Disease detectives and the 12th blue man. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2011/01/blue-man/

Robinson, E. R., Walker, T. M., & Pallen, M. J. (2013). Genomics and outbreak investigation: from sequence to consequence. Genome medicine, 5(4), 36. https://genomemedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/gm440