Sc300 Unit 2

An unusual spike in absences has occurred at Truman Middle School and Jackson Middle school. This spike in absences is only occurring in the band class and happened the day after a battle of the band between these two schools. At Truman Middle School over a third of the band students were absent while at Jackson Middle School a quarter of the students were absents the day after the competition. Based on the information able to be obtained and the symptoms showed by the absent students there the common reasons for the absences are possible food poisoning or something common to the competition. With no information available about what the students consumed at the competition it is hard to test for bacteria that could have been at the competition to bring about the sickness. To test for food poisoning as the possible cause of the sickness you will need to know what was eaten by the sick students and then find a common food among them all. Testing for bacteria at the restaurants where the students ate could also be done to check for bacteria. If both restaurants use a common supplier then test will also need to be conducted determine if the cause is the supply of food to the restaurants. With all the students coming down ill at the same time flu could be ruled out because flu takes 3 to 5 days to incubate. Food poisoning seems to be the most likely reason for the absences of such a large amount of students becoming ill at the same time.