Tick expoures and alpha-gal syndrome: An emerging cause of red meat and medication allergy

Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Diseases-2021
Assignment #1

Goal: To describe and discuss a recent development of potential importance to some aspect of infectious disease epidemiology and/or control in a 2-page paper.
You should choose a recent development that interests or excites you and which you think would be interesting and informative to your classmates (and to me), ideally but not necessarily, one that we might not have heard of.
The new development should be something relatively discrete and specific so that it can be usefully described in 2 pages.
It could be COVID-related, but you will have to try a little extra hard to come up with something that everybody hasn’t already heard.
The source need not be the peer reviewed literature, particularly if it is a preliminary report, but you need to make an effort to determine that the information is likely to be credible, e.g. the National Enquirer would not usually be a good source.
You may need to provide a little background for your reader, to put your information in context or explain its relevance, but this should not amount to more than about 1/3 of a page.
You should comment on the quality or validity of the reported evidence and especially the significance or potential implications. You are encouraged to form and state opinions, but they must be supported by evidence and/or logical discussion.
We will post your short essay for the benefit of your colleagues after you have had the opportunity to respond to my comments or corrections, and with the mark removed.

Instructions:
1. Type your answers in 11-12 point font, 1.5 line spacing, max 2 pages not including title page or references
2. Cite your primary source, which may be non-peer reviewed but should be credible, and up to 3 relevant supporting or background references
3. Include a title page that includes the title of the paper, your name and student ID number. Also, print your name and student ID # on each page of your paper.
4. This assignment counts 15% towards your course grade.
5. On the infrequent occasions when students have not done well on this exercise, it has been because they spent too much time/space on a background review of the area and failed to focus on the fascinating details of their topic & its implications or else chose a topic that was too broad and general. If you are unsure about a topic you can run it by me.