Overview
-You are co-located in your employment with the 911 dispatch center.
- Starting July 4th, you note that the dispatch center seems to be increasingly busy with complaints of fever, headache, and cough.
About July 8th, the hospitals in an area of town that boasts an amusement park and picnic grove are on “divert” to EMS, as the activate their “surge” program internally.
- An increase in requests for EMS from primary care providers is noted. Chest pain, cough, and hypoxemia are prevalent. Ventilators are in demand.
-The Department of Health has begun their investigation, and has requested CDC Epidemiological Intelligence Service Teams assistance, as several counties are now reporting similar “syndromes”
Common Source:
- A large number of primary cases appear to have visited the amusement park during the hot summer days around July 4.
- Most have acknowledged using the cooling sprinkler during those visits.
- The nursing home in the same water district has experienced an increased hospital admission rate and moderate increased death rate
- Children and infirm residents in the same area are also common hospitalized patien
Questions:
1. What “type’ of Hazardous Material/WMD agent might this scenario represent?
2. Epidemiological surveillance has identified a common “vector”. What might that be?
3. What agent might be implicated based on the clinical picture?
4. How could this syndrome be altered?