HSC 4210 – Environmental Health
Risk Assessment Presentation Assignment
Instructions for Infectious Disease Topics

Each student will prepare and present results of a human health risk assessment of a chosen topic related to one of the major lecture topics for the course. If you are approved for an infectious disease topic, you should consult the Human Health Risk Assessment Outline provided below, along with other risk assessment resources. Students will follow the process of a formal risk assessment and epidemiological description of the problem, and organize and present evidence in the categories listed below that are relevant for an infectious disease. Students must choose a specific topic for the assignment and obtain instructor approval for the topic by the due date shown in the syllabus.

When searching for information about your topic, as much as possible you should use peer-reviewed, scientific research articles. The best database to use for this purpose is Pubmed. See the article at the following link for advice on searching for articles in Pubmed (https://bitesizebio.com/419/18-ways-to-improve-your-pubmed-searches/). Pubmed also has tutorials to assist you (https://learn.nlm.nih.gov/documentation/training-packets/T0042010P/).

Your presentation should follow the basic outline shown below. A more detailed outline is provided further below in this document. Your grade will be based in part on how well you follow the instructions for the assignment, how well you address each part of the risk assessment process, and how well you present your information. Your summary and presentation should address all relevant characteristics for your topic as described in the more detailed outline shown further below.

I. Disease Identification—Identifies infectious disease that presents risk to human health in a specific target population

II. Person Factors—Understand and explain patterns in who acquires the infection

III. Place Factors— Assesses variation and patterns in where the disease occurs geographically and according to other categories of place

IV. Time Factors— Explain patterns, variation and frequency of the disease over time

V. Risk Management—Summarize actions need to be taken to control, minimize, or prevent the problem in the target population

The presentation should be done using PowerPoint (other software formats will NOT be accepted) and include text, tables, and figures as appropriate to most effectively present a summary of your assessment. You should cite all sources used throughout your presentation, and include a References Cited list on the slides at the end of your presentation. In order to avoid any point deduction, you must cite at least 10 references, and your references must be cited and typed out consistently throughout the presentation in one standard format (for example, APA, MLA, or other standard format). You must narrate your slides, presenting the information as if you were giving an in-person lecture. You have two options for narration: voice narration in Powerpoint or video narration using Canvas Studio. Regardless of how you narrate your slides, you must submit a copy of your Powerpoint slide file in Canvas to generate a plagiarism report of your slide material. The length of your presentation including all narration should be between 12 and 15 minutes total, regardless of number of slides.

HSC 4210 Environmental Health
Human Health Risk Assessment Detailed Outline for Infectious Disease Topics

PROCESS OF RISK ASSESSMENT FOR AN INFECTIOUS DISEASE:

Provide a detailed qualitative and quantitative description of the risk to human health, either in general or to a specific target population, due to a specific infectious disease agent by using the risk analysis model. Address each of the following categories in your analysis and report.

(1) Disease identification (2) Person factors (3) Place factors (4) Time factors  (5) Risk Management

(1) Disease Identification (What?)

A. Purpose: Identifies infectious disease that presents risk to human health in a specific target population
B. How? Evaluation and summary of the agent and adverse effect of the infection in humans
i. Describe the basic biology of the disease agent
ii. Describe habitat, natural reservoir hosts, life cycle, and vectors
iii. Describe transmission cycles
iv. Present the case definition for the disease
v. Describe the full clinical spectrum of signs and symptoms associated with the disease
vi. Include mortality rates and case-fatality rates

(2) Person Factors (Who?)

A. Purpose: Understand and explain patterns in who acquires the infection
B. How? Through review of scientific studies and data
i. Describe group(s) exposed with special attention to pregnant women, children, elderly, health- or immune-compromised, occupationally or behaviorally exposed groups
ii. Describe specific human behaviors that increase their risk of exposure/infection
iii. Include quantitative data to compare disease frequency among groups

(3) Place Factors (Where?)

A. Purpose: Assesses variation and patterns in where the disease occurs geographically and according to other categories of place
B. How? Summarize available data on disease occurrence
i. Describe geographic distribution of the disease in the target population, for example by country, state, county, etc., or by other place factors
ii. Compare disease frequency (prevalence, incidence) among areas within the target population (i.e., include quantitative data showing variation by place)

(4) Time Factors (When?)

A. Purpose: Explain patterns, variation and frequency of the disease over units of time
B. How? Summarize available data on past and current disease frequency
i. Explain patterns of disease occurrence, for example: sporadic occurrence; outbreaks/epidemics; constant presence
ii. Explain trends in disease frequency over time, for example stable rates, increasing or decreasing frequency

(5) Risk Management (What Needs to be Done?)

A. Purpose: provides plan and recommendations for Best Course of Action to control, minimize, or prevent the problem in the target population.
B. How? Use all information from steps above combined with various environmental and social factors for the target population.
i. Consider socioeconomic conditions
ii. Consider political pressures
iii. Include economic concerns
iv. Educational factors
v. Cultural/behavioral factors

The grading rubric for the presentation follows. This is the form your instructor will use in assessing your performance on the project.
 
HSC 4210 – ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
INFECTIOUS DISEASE RISK ASSESSMENT PRESENTATION EVALUATION FORM

Student: Date:
Evaluated Student’s Presentation Topic:

INSTRUCTIONS: For each item below, grade the presentation by assigning the appropriate number of points for each category, based on the following scale:
• Excellent (10 pts.)
• Good (7-9 pts.)
• Satisfactory (4-6 pts.)
• Substandard (3-4 pts.)
• Unacceptable (0-2 pts.)

GENERAL PRESENTATION No. Points

1. Length of presentation (within prescribed time limit?) ________

2. Professionalism and oral presentation style and clarity ________
(Did presenters dress and behave professionally? Was the presented information
clear and easy to understand? Did the presenter(s) use proper pronunciation,
and avoid annoying mannerisms? Did presenters read from their slides?)

3. Organization of the material ________
(Was the material organized and presented in a logical and meaningful way, and
according to the provided outline?

4. Referencing ________
(Were sources referenced properly and consistently throughout? Was the
number and quality of references adequate?)

5. Visual presentation of the material ________
(Were visual aids of high quality? How well did the use of technology, graphs,
tables, etc. enhance comprehension of the information?)

PROCESS OF RISK ASSESSMENT

6. Disease Identification (What?) ________
A. Purpose: Identifies infectious disease that presents risk to human health in a specific target population
B. How? Evaluation and summary of the agent and adverse effect of the infection in humans
i. Describe the basic biology of the disease agent
ii. Describe habitat, natural reservoir hosts, life cycle, and vectors
iii. Describe transmission cycles
iv. Present the case definition for the disease
v. Describe the full clinical spectrum of signs and symptoms associated with the disease
vi. Include mortality rates and case-fatality rates

7. Person Factors (Who?) ________
A. Purpose: Understand and explain patterns in who acquires the infection
B. How? Through review of scientific studies and data
i. Describe group(s) exposed with special attention to pregnant women, children, elderly, health- or immune-compromised, occupationally or behaviorally exposed groups
ii. Describe specific human behaviors that increase their risk of exposure/infection

8. Place Factors (Where?) ________
A. Purpose: Assesses variation and patterns in where the disease occurs geographically and according to other categories of place
B. How? Summarize available data on disease occurrence
i. Describe geographic distribution of the disease in the target population, for example by country, state, county, etc., or by other place factors
ii. Compare disease frequency (prevalence, incidence) among areas within the target population

9. Time Factors (When?)
A. Purpose: Explain patterns, variation and frequency of the disease over time ________
B. How? Summarize available data on past disease frequency
i. Explain patterns of disease occurrence, for example sporadic, outbreaks/epidemics, constant presence
ii. Explain trends in disease frequency over time, for example stable rates, increasing or decreasing frequency

10. Risk Management (What Needs to be Done?) ________
A. Purpose: Outlines actions that need to be taken to manage, minimize, or prevent the problem in the target population?
B. How? Use all information from previous steps of Risk Assessment combined with various environmental and social factors for the target population.
i. Consider socioeconomic conditions
ii. Consider political pressures
iii. Include economic concerns
iv. Educational factors
v. Cultural/behavioral factors

Total Points for the presentation ________