Outbreak of Rift Valley Fever, River Nile State, Sudan - 2019: a teaching case-study
Shahd Osman, Amal Taha, Rawia Osama, Alaadein AlKhidir, Rehab Abdallah
Corresponding author: Shahd Osman, Federal Ministry of Health, P.O. Box 2757, Khartoum Sudan 
Received: 03 Jul 2020 - Accepted: 29 Jul 2020 - Published: 06 Aug 2020
Domain: Infectious diseases epidemiology
Keywords: Rift valley fever, outbreak, zoonotic diseases, one health, Sudan
This article is published as part of the supplement Teaching case-studies in Field Epidemiology with a focus on the Eastern Mediterranean Region, commissioned by The Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET).
©Shahd Osman et al. Pan African Medical Journal (ISSN: 1937-8688). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Shahd Osman et al. Outbreak of Rift Valley Fever, River Nile State, Sudan - 2019: a teaching case-study. Pan African Medical Journal. 2020;36(1):15. [doi: 10.11604/pamj.supp.2020.36.1.24789]
Available online at: https://www.panafrican-med-journal.com//content/series/36/1/15/full
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Outbreak of Rift Valley Fever, River Nile State, Sudan - 2019: a teaching case-study
Outbreak of Rift Valley Fever, River Nile State, Sudan - 2019: a teaching case-study
Shahd Osman1,&, Amal Taha2, Rawia Osama2, Alaadein AlKhidir2, Rehab Abdallah2
&Corresponding author
Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is a viral zoonosis disease transmitted through a mosquito vector that primarily infects animals but also has the capacity to infect humans. Most human infections are caused by direct or indirect contact with the blood or organs of infected animals. Sudan, like many African countries, is considered endemic for RVF. In 2019, an outbreak took place at the River Nile State of Sudan and continued for six months resulting in the spread of RVF into other states. The goal of this case study is to strengthen the capacity of trainees in outbreak investigation of a zoonotic disease using an integrated approach. This case study examines the factors that triggered the RVF outbreak and consequently resulted in its spread. It allows participants to discuss risk factors and the importance of integrating response efforts including surveillance and outbreak investigation and control. The case study is designed for training novice field epidemiology trainees. The case study can be administered in 3-4 hours.
General instructions: this case study should be used as adjunct training material for novice epidemiology trainees to reinforce the concepts taught in prior lectures. The case study is ideally taught by a facilitator in groups of about 20 participants. Participants are to take turns reading the case study, usually a paragraph per student. The facilitator guides the discussion on possible responses to questions. The facilitator may make use of flip charts to illustrate certain points. Additional instructor´s notes for facilitation are coupled with each question in the instructor´s guide to aid facilitation.
Audience: this case study was developed for novice field epidemiology students. These participants are commonly health care workers working in the country departments of health whose background may be as medical doctors, nurses, environmental health officers or laboratory scientists who work in public health-related fields. Most have a health science or biology background.
Prerequisites: before using this case study, participants should have received lectures on disease surveillance and outbreak investigation.
Materials needed: Flash drive, flip charts, markers, computers with MS Excel
Level of training and associated public health activity: Novice - Outbreak Investigation
Time required: 3-4 hours
Language: English
- Download the case study student guide (PDF - 579 KB)
- Request the case study facilitator guide
The authors declare no competing interests.
We wish to acknowledge the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET) for their support to develop this case study, and the Health Emergency and Epidemiological Control Directorate at the Ministry of Health of River Nile state for providing the information and data for this case Study.
Disclaimer: original data of this cases study have been modified for teaching purposes.
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