OK, I have to write a paper for epidemiology about an infectious disease of interest to me.

There's so many diseases....and nothing I've picked so far greatly enthralls me. Here's a list of ones I don't want to do for various reasons, either they don't interest me, or we already discussed them thoroughly in class, or I already know alot of people in my class are doing them:

West Nile Virus/West Nile Encephalitis
Typhoid
AIDS
Bovine Spongiform Encehpalopy ("Mad Cow")
Cholera
Bovine Respiratory Disease
Mastitis

I'm thinking about doing the plague, but that doesn't overly enthrall me, plus there's been so many outbreaks of plague over the years and in so many places it may be hard to sift through all the data. (This paper only has to be less than 500 words, so I wanna keep it fairly short and too the point.)

Maybe you guys can help me brain storm about what to write about. The only criteria is it must be an infectious disease. It doesn't matter whether it is a human or an animal disease.

If any of you are from rural areas or farms, feel free to list some diseases you routinely encounter, which this city girl probably doesn't know much about! Also, I'm trying to stay away from the more obvious animal diseases, such as FIV or parvo. I'd like to do something unusual not only so I can learn something new, but because I think it will be a more interesting paper overall. I'm also thinking about doing Kuru but I haven't yet decided for sure.

Thanks!

TB

Smallpox...ahahahahahaha.

How about smallpox? With all the talk about it today, it might be interesting.

Yeah, but smallpox is "extinct" or whatever. It was wiped from the globe..I did a paper on smallpox for bio I think...

BUMP :)

TB's a pretty good idea.

Smallpox...lol Punk Rawker. Maybe I should do "monkey pox"! I wonder if monkey pox is even a real disease. I'd never heard of it before....

Last year I did a 14 page paper on TB... I don't even know HOW I got enough information to fill 14 pages, but I did...

...I wish I had the paper for ya, Bootsy. My teacher never gave it back to me! :(

Are typhoid and the plague still a threat? Admitedly, I don't know much about infectious diseases. The reason I suggested smallpox was because, even though a vaccine was found decades ago, scientists kept a lot of the smallpox disease itself--why is beyond me. We've been hearing how it may have ended up in the wrong hands, so the US is now scrambling to make sure we have enough vaccine to go around if an outbreak occurs. It's a highly infectious disease, and certainly a topical discussion.

Scabeys. It's more contagious rather than infectious so it might not qualify. It's an interesting nuisance of a skin thing that you might be interested to learn about if you don't already know.

Originally posted by Bootsy Whoosh
BUMP :)

TB's a pretty good idea.

Smallpox...lol Punk Rawker. Maybe I should do "monkey pox"! I wonder if monkey pox is even a real disease. I'd never heard of it before....

A type of monkey pox...mutated monkey scabs. Looollll... I've never heard of monkey pox either...oh well.

Originally posted by JanLady617
Are typhoid and the plague still a threat? Admitedly, I don't know much about infectious diseases.

I'm not sure how prevalent typhoid is, but people still get plague even in the United States....mostly out west. It's not in epidemic proportions, but people do still get it.

If you're interested Bootsy, this came off The Associated Press today.

U.S. Plans Smallpox Shots for Troops, Report Says

NEW YORK (Oct. 12) - With the White House moving toward a military attack against Iraq, the Pentagon is expected to start vaccinating up to 500,000 troops against smallpox once the vaccine is licensed in mid-November, a published report said.

Leading military and civilian advisers to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld have recommended making the vaccine available to the troops, The New York Times reported in its Saturday editions.

Although Rumsfeld has not yet approved the recommendation, he is expected to do so, the paper said, citing unnamed officials from the military and Bush Administration.

``If you're talking about potentially sending troops to areas where they could be exposed to smallpox ... aren't you negligent if you don't give them every possible protection?'' a senior military official said.

Vice President Dick Cheney and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz strongly favor inoculating soldiers.

But some experts have opposed such vaccinations before an actual case of smallpox is found since there is no proof that Iraq has the deadly virus or would be willing to unleash it in an attack.

Under the Pentagon's plan 350,000 to 500,000 soldiers would be immunized. The program would aim to vaccinate military units that might eventually be deployed to the Middle East, but others might also be inoculated. There are currently 1.4 million troops on active duty.

President Bush is also expected to make a decision soon about whether civilians will be vaccinated. The president is said to be deliberating since it is possible some people would die from the side effects of the vaccine.

Although the vaccine was given to millions of people throughout the world prior to 1972, it has not been administered to civilians since the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated in 1980.

10/12/02 14:03 EDT

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

How about diphtheria? Or rubella or yellow fever or something.