12 Employing Field Epidemiology:
⬜ Developing Hypotheses
⬜ Sample Collection
🟩 Outbreak Investigation
⬜ Sequencing
⬜ Bioinformatics
⬜ Molecular Epidemiology
⬜ Public Health Implementation
With their case interview forms finalized, the Molecular Epidemiologists coordinated with the Zoonotic Epidemiology Team and Local Health Jurisdiction Epidemiologists to begin field investigations. Armed with both the human and animal surveillance forms, the teams set off to gather critical data from trainers, workers, residents, and animal caretakers across Fuchsia City and the Safari Zone.
The Zoonotic Epidemiologists focused on high-risk interfaces, places where animals and humans regularly interacted, such as feeding stations, enclosures, and veterinary holding areas. Using the animal surveillance forms, they documented clinical signs in affected species, logged sample collection data, and captured information on recent transfers, social groupings, and human contact patterns. Any signs of illness, behavioral changes, or unusual mortality events were carefully recorded.
Meanwhile, Local Health Epidemiologists conducted interviews with symptomatic individuals, close contacts, and facility staff. They used their human case forms to track onset dates, travel histories, occupational roles, and protective behaviors. Special attention was given to individuals who worked across multiple zones or species, or who had recent contact with sick trainers or animals.
Each team collected data methodically, ensuring consistency in how information was recorded. As the fieldwork progressed, they began to notice recurring patterns: clusters of illness tied to specific enclosures, overlapping work schedules, or repeated contact with a small set of animal species. These early findings would soon feed back into the hypothesis generation process and guide the genomic and epidemiologic analyses still underway.
With dozens of interviews completed and sample metadata flowing into the shared outbreak database, the teams prepared to regroup with the Genomics Specialists to share their findings. While the sequencing and bioinformatics work continued in parallel, the insights gathered in the field would soon provide critical context for interpreting the genomic data. The results of the field investigation wouldn’t be fully realized until later, when they could be integrated with the Molecular Epidemiologists’ analysis of the viral genomes.
For now, attention shifted to the lab, where scientists began working to identify the pathogen hidden within the samples collected from human cases.
