Field Investigation
A number of people are sick and no one knows why. The local
government invites CDC to come and investigate. CDC sends a
team of disease detectives to try and discover the cause of
the disease outbreak.
What is causing the outbreak? People could be sick from food they ate, water they drank, or something in their environment. Maybe an insect or animal bit them. CDC has fact sheets on many diseases and conditions. Click here to view them. And Click here to see CDC's Rabies Web Page that's just for kids.
The team of disease detectives is specially trained and equipped to solve this mystery. They have set up this specimen collection tent equipped with many of the tools they will need to uncover clues about what is making people sick. Here you see a disease detective about to take blood from a patient.
Click on areas in the photo to learn more about how disease detectives solve the mystery of an outbreak.
Click here for a printable version of this section.