BIOSCI197: PATHOGEN RESEARCH PAPER
Disease [National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance Systems (NNDSS)]
Paper Guidelines
I. Submit your paper via BlackBoard under Module 5 → Lecture Content
II. Collecting Data: Use the following instructions to collect morbidity data (2022 and 2023) for your selected disease:
A. Go to the “CDC WONDER” website: http://wonder.cdc.gov/
B. Under the “WONDER Systems” tab and under “Other Query Systems,” click on “NNDSS Weekly Tables”.
C. Click “Change Year/Week”. Select Year = 2023 and Week = 01. Click “Change to Selected Year/Week”. NOTE:
You can get data for both 2022 and 2023 from the 2023 table.
D. Find your disease in the list and click on PDF (this should open the PDF in a new tab in your browser). Locate
the 2 columns headings “Cum 2022” and “Cum 2023.” Record the cumulative # of cases for the corresponding year on
your data sheets. NOTE: You will need to decide whether you will collect data for the entire U.S. or just one state. You will
make this decision based on the # cases in week 1. The general rule is: >1000 cases in U.S. for week 1, then pick a state; <
1000 cases in week 1, then do the entire U.S.
E. You can find each week for the year by clicking on the “next” button when on the site listing all the pathogens.
Construct a data table with your morbidity data. The columns will be, “Week”, “Cumulative totals 2022” and “Cumulative
totals 2023”. The rows will have the week # listed (1-52), followed by your data for cumulative totals.
III. Graphing Your Data: You will be constructing a graph using the two data sets (2022 and 2023) you have collected from
the CDC website. Graphs must be prepared by computer (use Excel or Google Sheets). Your graph will have two lines
(one for 2022 and one for 2023). Plot the number of weeks on the X-axis and the cumulative totals on the Y-axis. Label
the axes (cumulative totals, weeks), include legends (make sure to distinguish using different colors or pattern, the data
from 2022 & 2023). Include title: “Cumulative Totals for (disease name) in 2022 and 2023”: The graph will have 52 data
points for each year.
IV. Paper:
A. Double-spaced lines, Calibri or Times New Roman font, and font size 12.
B. Standard 1 inch margins (1 inch on all sides – top, bottom, and sides).
C. You must use page numbers.
D. You are responsible for correct grammar and spelling. Please use the spelling/grammar check feature of your
word processor and proofread your paper before submitting. This applies to scientific terms too. All scientific names of
organisms must be italicized (or underlined for handwritten portions), with the genus name starting with a capital letter
& species name starting with a lowercase letter. After the full genus and species name is given in the paper once
(Staphylococcus aureus), it can be abbreviated (S. aureus), but is still italicized.
E. Research and write a short paper (3-4 pages max, not including title page, table, graph, references) on your
disease.
F. Title page that includes: Class name, your name, pathogen name and disease name, date.
G. There should be an introduction that introduces us to your organism along with what you will discuss in the
paper and why it is important.
H. Body should include (You can divide this up into sections, start each as a new paragraph. Give the paragraphs
titles like “Epidemiology” which have been underlined below). Follow the questions below for guidance: i. Introduction
to the disease and causative organism: What is the name of the disease? What is the name of the pathogen that causes
this disease?
ii. Characteristics of the pathogen: What are some of the characteristics of this pathogen (whether
bacterium, virus, protozoan; bacterial Gram type, cell shape or viral structure, genetic makeup, virulence factors,
etc.)?
Disease [National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance Systems (NNDSS)]
Paper Guidelines
I. Submit your paper via BlackBoard under Module 5 → Lecture Content
II. Collecting Data: Use the following instructions to collect morbidity data (2022 and 2023) for your selected disease:
A. Go to the “CDC WONDER” website: http://wonder.cdc.gov/
B. Under the “WONDER Systems” tab and under “Other Query Systems,” click on “NNDSS Weekly Tables”.
C. Click “Change Year/Week”. Select Year = 2023 and Week = 01. Click “Change to Selected Year/Week”. NOTE:
You can get data for both 2022 and 2023 from the 2023 table.
D. Find your disease in the list and click on PDF (this should open the PDF in a new tab in your browser). Locate
the 2 columns headings “Cum 2022” and “Cum 2023.” Record the cumulative # of cases for the corresponding year on
your data sheets. NOTE: You will need to decide whether you will collect data for the entire U.S. or just one state. You will
make this decision based on the # cases in week 1. The general rule is: >1000 cases in U.S. for week 1, then pick a state; <
1000 cases in week 1, then do the entire U.S.
E. You can find each week for the year by clicking on the “next” button when on the site listing all the pathogens.
Construct a data table with your morbidity data. The columns will be, “Week”, “Cumulative totals 2022” and “Cumulative
totals 2023”. The rows will have the week # listed (1-52), followed by your data for cumulative totals.
III. Graphing Your Data: You will be constructing a graph using the two data sets (2022 and 2023) you have collected from
the CDC website. Graphs must be prepared by computer (use Excel or Google Sheets). Your graph will have two lines
(one for 2022 and one for 2023). Plot the number of weeks on the X-axis and the cumulative totals on the Y-axis. Label
the axes (cumulative totals, weeks), include legends (make sure to distinguish using different colors or pattern, the data
from 2022 & 2023). Include title: “Cumulative Totals for (disease name) in 2022 and 2023”: The graph will have 52 data
points for each year.
IV. Paper:
A. Double-spaced lines, Calibri or Times New Roman font, and font size 12.
B. Standard 1 inch margins (1 inch on all sides – top, bottom, and sides).
C. You must use page numbers.
D. You are responsible for correct grammar and spelling. Please use the spelling/grammar check feature of your
word processor and proofread your paper before submitting. This applies to scientific terms too. All scientific names of
organisms must be italicized (or underlined for handwritten portions), with the genus name starting with a capital letter
& species name starting with a lowercase letter. After the full genus and species name is given in the paper once
(Staphylococcus aureus), it can be abbreviated (S. aureus), but is still italicized.
E. Research and write a short paper (3-4 pages max, not including title page, table, graph, references) on your
disease.
F. Title page that includes: Class name, your name, pathogen name and disease name, date.
G. There should be an introduction that introduces us to your organism along with what you will discuss in the
paper and why it is important.
H. Body should include (You can divide this up into sections, start each as a new paragraph. Give the paragraphs
titles like “Epidemiology” which have been underlined below). Follow the questions below for guidance: i. Introduction
to the disease and causative organism: What is the name of the disease? What is the name of the pathogen that causes
this disease?
ii. Characteristics of the pathogen: What are some of the characteristics of this pathogen (whether
bacterium, virus, protozoan; bacterial Gram type, cell shape or viral structure, genetic makeup, virulence factors,
etc.)?
iii. Characteristics of the host: What type of organism does it infect? How does it enter the body? (portal
of entry)
iv. Signs and symptoms: What are the signs and symptoms, how long does the disease last?
v. Pathogenesis: What is the body system involved? How does the microbe cause disease? (describe
damage to tissues). (Your textbook is a good resource for what kind of information goes in the pathogenesis section.
Look up the ‘disease chapters’ in the book.)
vi. Epidemiology: How is the disease spread (mode of transmission)? Is there a vector (such as an insect)
that is known to carry the disease? Explain how the vector influences its spread keeping in mind the vector’s life
cycle. Is there a certain portion of the population (a certain age group) that is affected more? What other factors
(culture, economics etc.) affect the disease? Briefly describe what you have learned concerning the morbidity rate
from the analysis of your data. Briefly describe the cumulative graph. Is there a steady increase in the number of
cases of the disease throughout each year studied? Why or why not? Does the graph plateau (no significant increase)
for a certain time in the year (several weeks)? If it does, why do you think that might be?
vii. Treatment and Prevention: Is the disease deadly? Once you contract this disease, is it curable? What
are the treatments and prognosis for this disease? (Give specific names of drugs used) How can it be prevented? Are
there any vaccines?
viii. Conclusion: Must state why this organism is interesting and the highlights of what you discovered
and what the future might hold for this organism
ix. Results: This should include both the data table and the graph you will have constructed.
I. References (on a separate page). The references list should be numbered, and the works should be cited within the
text (called an “in-text” reference) using these numbers (put the number within parentheses at the end of the
sentence). References should be arranged alphabetically by the last name of the first author (if known) or web
address (complete link), followed by the title of the article (in “”), followed by the name of the book/journal
(italicize), and year.
J. Originality of your work is most important. Paraphrasing i.e. writing in your own words should be carefully
done and whenever any reference is used it should be cited. Avoid quoting directly and write in your own words.
Whenever you use someone else’s information/work, you must cite the reference.
K. Any indication of plagiarism counts as academic misconduct and will result in action taken against the student
and a zero (0) on the paper.
Examples of Graph:
of entry)
iv. Signs and symptoms: What are the signs and symptoms, how long does the disease last?
v. Pathogenesis: What is the body system involved? How does the microbe cause disease? (describe
damage to tissues). (Your textbook is a good resource for what kind of information goes in the pathogenesis section.
Look up the ‘disease chapters’ in the book.)
vi. Epidemiology: How is the disease spread (mode of transmission)? Is there a vector (such as an insect)
that is known to carry the disease? Explain how the vector influences its spread keeping in mind the vector’s life
cycle. Is there a certain portion of the population (a certain age group) that is affected more? What other factors
(culture, economics etc.) affect the disease? Briefly describe what you have learned concerning the morbidity rate
from the analysis of your data. Briefly describe the cumulative graph. Is there a steady increase in the number of
cases of the disease throughout each year studied? Why or why not? Does the graph plateau (no significant increase)
for a certain time in the year (several weeks)? If it does, why do you think that might be?
vii. Treatment and Prevention: Is the disease deadly? Once you contract this disease, is it curable? What
are the treatments and prognosis for this disease? (Give specific names of drugs used) How can it be prevented? Are
there any vaccines?
viii. Conclusion: Must state why this organism is interesting and the highlights of what you discovered
and what the future might hold for this organism
ix. Results: This should include both the data table and the graph you will have constructed.
I. References (on a separate page). The references list should be numbered, and the works should be cited within the
text (called an “in-text” reference) using these numbers (put the number within parentheses at the end of the
sentence). References should be arranged alphabetically by the last name of the first author (if known) or web
address (complete link), followed by the title of the article (in “”), followed by the name of the book/journal
(italicize), and year.
J. Originality of your work is most important. Paraphrasing i.e. writing in your own words should be carefully
done and whenever any reference is used it should be cited. Avoid quoting directly and write in your own words.
Whenever you use someone else’s information/work, you must cite the reference.
K. Any indication of plagiarism counts as academic misconduct and will result in action taken against the student
and a zero (0) on the paper.
Examples of Graph: