Critically evaluate a real-life case of an emerging infectious disease from the past 20 years. Use knowledge of evolution and anthropology to analyze the outbreak and propose solutions from these frameworks.
Over the past 20 years, public health officials have informed the public of emerging infections that pose a global risk to humans. There were four outbreaks in particular that made world headlines for months: SARS (China, 2002-03), Swine influenza (Mexico, 2009-10), the West Africa Ebola outbreak (Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and others, 2013-16), and the novel coronavirus (China, 2019-20). You will choose one of these four illnesses and evaluate them. You will discuss 1) the basic biology and epidemiology of the illness; 2) how the illness appeared in the human population and what the presumed vector is; 3) the public health response to the outbreak; 4) the evolutionary principles underlying this infectious disease (discuss virulence and other principles as necessary); 5) human-environment interactions that facilitated the emergence of this infection; 6) lessons from evolution and human behavior for this outbreak that can be applied to another outbreak.
You will write a 3-4 page essay, double spaced, Arial 11-point font. You must use at least 3 references. Appropriate references include reputable news sources, peer-reviewed academic sources, science journalism sources, or governmental or non-governmental webpages (e.g. the CDC or WHO webpages). If you have any questions about the quality of the source, please consult myself or the TA before including it in your paper! You may NOT use Wikipedia as a primary source for this paper! However, it is a good reference to find appropriate new and academic articles that you may cite. You may use as many sources from the course as you would like, but they will not count towards the three references. Use Chicago name-date format for any sources.
How did the illness appear in the human population and what the presumed vector is? E.g. what is the “story” of this outbreak?
What is the basic biology and epidemiology of the disease? How does it spread from person to person? What is its mortality rate?
What was the public health response to the outbreak? Discuss how it might have varied from country to country. Where did the infection go and how did it get there?
What are the evolutionary principles underlying this infectious disease? Use what you know from class, such as the evolution of virulence or other evolutionary ideas we have discussed.
How did human, environmental, cultural, social, and global factors contribute to this outbreak? How were they involved in the evolution and spread of the pathogen? Please pay attention to populations or groups that may be especially vulnerable to poor outcomes in the outbreak.
How would you use your understanding of how this outbreak unfolded to prevent or manage another outbreak?