Disease Detective B/C

[butter side up]

I was wondering, are there any other specifics besides Food-bourne for Disease detectives?

Not this year, but maybe in past years???

In a way, Food-Borne Illness is sort of a moot focus because even when the focus was Population Growth (back in 2009-2010), event writers still tended to include food-borne scenarios and questions.

Essentially, the focus on food-borne often just shows as a series of matching about the causative agents or whatnot. The cases that are given are often food-borne regardless of whether it is the focus or not- it is often easy to get good data and clear causes from them, and they (mostly) have very short incubation periods. The rest stays fairly steady, and will have sections on famous outbreaks, math, the ten steps, etc... all the usual topics.

[French_Toast]

I don't mean to be rude here when I say this, but it might come off as such because I'm tired and beginning to get sick, so bear with me.

When you're new to an event, and you come to the forums for help, please do not just ask "What do I need to know to be good at this event" or "What is this event about." You waste everyone's time. You should have a copy of the rules, and they list everything you need to know. If you have questions about what a certain part of the rules mean, or don't understand a certain topic, feel free to ask, and people will be more than happy to help. But don't walk in here and say "Teach me" and expect to get anything worthwhile out of it.

Anyways, looking forward to this event again this year, hoping to grab a gold for the first time. Gonna be rough since Solon is the reigning champion in the event, but I should be able to sneak one out, or get it at regionals when Solon isn't there.

Um, excuse me? I asked for help on this because I lost my copy of the rules, so i asked so I could get working. And also, even though you think I didn't get anything out of this, I learned that the wiki existed and how to get to the practice tests. And while I can't speak for everyone, I feel your comment was slightly rude, although I can see where you were coming from. Sorry if this angers you. I'm not looking for a fight.

Yeah, I didn't mean to offend anyone, but it seems every year I come onto the forums and there's a ton of of people just wanting to be taught and not wanting to put any effort into it. It annoys me, so I tend to react negatively to posts like it.

[silverheart7]

Does anybody know any good books we could use to help us study?

[Epidemiologist]

Does anybody know any good books we could use to help us study?

Hi, these aren't "Disease Detectives" books, but they are what I use to study (I got tenth nationals last year so they work).

"Principles of Epidemiology": http://www.cdc.gov/training/products/ss ... 000-ol.pdf
"The Little Book Of Pandemics": ISBN 978-0-06-137421-0
"Microbiology Demystified": ISBN 978-0-07-144650-1

In addition, I'd highly recommend an AP Statistics book, I have a few.
Also, I think it helps to read novels based on epidemiology, like;
"Panic in Level 4," and "The Fatal Strain."

[jamielou]

For this event, is it benficial to study famous outbreaks that have occurred? Or is there usually no questions regarding these on test?

[butter side up]

For this event, is it benficial to study famous outbreaks that have occurred? Or is there usually no questions regarding these on test?

Famous outbreaks have shown up on nearly every test I have taken. The ebola outbreak in Zaire, the outbreak in four corners, John Snow's cholera outbreak, a Jack-in-the-box one, there are many more that routinely show up. Studying famous outbreaks (not necessarily food-born) will be a big help.

[jamielou]

For this event, is it benficial to study famous outbreaks that have occurred? Or is there usually no questions regarding these on test?

Famous outbreaks have shown up on nearly every test I have taken. The ebola outbreak in Zaire, the outbreak in four corners, John Snow's cholera outbreak, a Jack-in-the-box one, there are many more that routinely show up. Studying famous outbreaks (not necessarily food-born) will be a big help.

Thank you!!:))

[Lady Epidemic]

I know that at state, pretty much all the tiebreakers were based on the 'first case of epidemiology' (John snow and cholera), and thanks to my regular science teacher, who had done a unit on this the week before, I knew everything but the guy's name. Also a tiebreaker: tetradotoxin=puffer fish poison.

[deezee]

In Illnois we barely had any about previous outbreaks
At nationals Last year B division I don't recall having that either
but i think it would be good to know the famous ones mentioned above :/

[SONinjaGuy]

Does anyone have any tips on extracting important data from the walls of text the test tends to have quickly and accurately? Also, I frequently encounter not even being able to find information for a 2x2 table, so can anyone give me hints for when the numbers aren't obvious? Thanks in advance.