Epidemiological Research Study Report
Victoria Anderson
SNHU
December 2021
Population:
In the Caribbean islands in the early to mid-1980's, there was a outbreak of Salmonella
that affected thousands. At the time unfortunately, the concern received very little attention due
to the resource of the constraints and what caused the salmonella outbreak. Many tourists and the
residents of the Caribbean had gotten sick with a bad case of diarrhea, which of course raised red
flags and a need for further research was sought out. A communicable disease surveillance
system was immediately put into place, but it did not unfortunately was placed timely to detect
the risk factors that was associated with the infection. Due to this halt, the outbreak continued to
grow larger. In addition to the communicable disease surveillance system, it was found that many
different types of salmonella were found within many patients who were affected. Virus strains
of salmonella such as Enteritidis, Typhimurium, and many more. One of the first steps to help
control the outbreak, researchers had to figure out where, when, who and how did the outbreak
started and continue if it did. In this study, everyone who was examined for the illness all had
one major thing in common, they had all consumer meals that contained raw or undercooked
eggs. With further investigation, six of the ten farms located in the geographic area did not
handle their eggs carefully or under sanitary standards. With these findings, the agriculture
industry had to ratify the situation and set new sanitary strategies to prevent this outbreak from
happening again.
Social and Behavioral Determinants:
In this case study, there are numerous different types of social determinants that delayed the
cause, and the stopping of the outbreak were lack of education and training, socioeconomic
statuses, and whether they were residents of the Caribbean or tourists on vacation. In almost all
food handling jobs, there are rules and levels of standards that always must be met however, this
was not the case in this case study. With the lack of knowledge and how to properly handle eggs
from the beginning stages (i.e farming, restaurants) the people involved lacked the proper
techniques needed to handle fresh eggs. It is imperative to ensure that proper food handling
techniques are done appropriately when being prepared for meals as well as storing and safety on
where the food is being stored. Farmers needed to be educated on cleanliness and safety
precautions to avoid serious outbreaks like the one that happened. Per the case study, the main
egg producing farms were all located in Trinidad and Tobago. Within those ten farms, six of
them had dirty nesting boxes, liter was wet, and rodents and insects were found in the areas
where fresh eggs were either being produced or held for shipment. The second determinant is
socioeconomic statuses ranging from the residents to the tourists that come from other parts of
the world. Many of the tourists were residing in luxury hotels and assumed that the food