Abstract
Cholera is among the re-emerging diseases in Kenya. Beginning in December 2014, a persistent outbreak occurred involving 29 out of the 47 countries. Homa Bay County in Western Kenya was among the first counties to report cholera cases from January to April 2015. This case study is based on an outbreak investigation conducted by FELTP residents in Homa Bay County in February 2015. It simulates an outbreak investigation including laboratory confirmation, active case finding, descriptive epidemiology and implementation of control measures. This case study is designed for the training of basic level field epidemiology trainees or any other health care workers working in public health-related fields. It can be administered in 2-3 hours. Used as adjunct training material, the case study provides the trainees with competencies in investigating an outbreak in preparation for the actual real-life experience of such outbreaks.
Keywords: Public Health, epidemiology, cholera, re-emerging disease, outbreak investigation
How to use this case study
General instructions: this case study should be used as adjunct training material for novice epidemiology trainees to reinforce the concepts taught in prior lectures. The case study is ideally taught by a facilitator in groups of about 20 participants. Participants are to take turns reading the case study, usually a paragraph per student. The facilitator guides the discussion on possible responses to questions. The facilitator may make use of flip charts to illustrate certain points. Additional instructor’s notes for facilitation are coupled with each question in the instructor’s guide to aid facilitation.
Audience: this case study was developed for novice field epidemiology students. These participants are commonly health care workers working in the county departments of health whose background may be as medical doctors, nurses, environmental health officers or laboratory scientists who work in public health-related fields. Most have a health science or biology background.
Prerequisites: before using this case study, participants should have received lectures on disease surveillance and outbreak investigation.
Materials needed: flash drive, flip charts, markers, computers with MS Excel
Level of training and associated public health activity: Novice – Outbreak investigation
Time required: 2-3 hours
Language: English
Case study material
Request the case study facilitator guide.
Acknowledgments
We wish to acknowledge residents of the field epidemiology and laboratory training program who conducted the outbreak investigation on which this case study is based. We also wish to appreciate the county department of Health, Homa Bay County in which the outbreak investigation was conducted. We also appreciate the contribution of Emory University and the African Field Epidemiology Network for facilitating the development of this case study, as well as the following for their review during the case study development workshop: Mahmood Dalhat, Olufunmilayo Fawole, Joseph Frimpong, Notion Gombe, Gerald Shambira, and Doreen Tuhebwe.
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interest.
References
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