Abstract

With 75 percent of diseases in humans having origin in animals or animal products, zoonotic diseases have an enormous impact on the global disease burden. A significant portion of this can be attributed to bacterial zoonotic enteric pathogens. This study was designed to locate clusters of bacterial zoonotic enteric outbreaks in the State of Minnesota and study the seasonality of these outbreaks. In addition to identifying hot spots for zoonotic enteric outbreaks in Minnesota, the study also aimed to design a causal model to improve understanding of risk factors. This thesis considered only the bacterial zoonotic pathogens with significant disease burden. Foodborne and non-foodborne zoonotic enteric outbreaks reported by Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) during the period 2000 to 2010 were analyzed in the study. A recent rise in trend of zoonotic enteric disease (ZED) outbreaks were confirmed through empirical analyses. The study also revealed increased bacterial ZED outbreaks in the summer months as compared to other months of the year. Hot spot analysis results indicated twin cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) as the vulnerable area for ZED outbreaks. The study is especially important for health educators as it shines light on the right places and right time for tailoring interventions to reduce the disease burden.

Advisor

Marge Murray Davis

Committee Member

Marlene Tappe

Committee Member

Judith Luebke

Date of Degree

2017

Language

english

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Health Science

College

Allied Health and Nursing

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Share

COinS
 

Rights Statement

In Copyright