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The Edge of
EpidemiologyBy Devin Teichrow

Working layer

Reporter's Notebook

A working layer for reporters: what to ask next, which numbers matter, and which framing traps to avoid before writing.

6 active assignment(s)6 linked disease sheet(s)

Call Sheet

The current live files, why they matter, and the next move that would make the reporting stronger.

Call sheet

Measles transmission and vaccination

Measles is a clean reporter desk disease because it reveals vaccination gaps, school and household spread, travel-linked importation, and public-health capacity all at once.

Next move: Pin down whether the transmission language reflects evidence, concern, or pure precaution.

Monitoring: News Release July 29, 2026 DSHS alerts clinicians, public about Montgomery County measles outbreak The Texas Department of State Health Services issued a health alert after four cases of measles were .....

Expanding coverageNorth America · United States
Field guide: Measles
Call sheet

Ebola virus disease

Ebola remains a defining outbreak-desk disease because healthcare transmission, funeral practices, laboratory capacity, community trust, and international alarm can all move faster than the confirmed count.

Next move: Separate the operational move from the underlying epidemiology before you frame the story.

Monitoring: Ebola disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Expanding coverageAfrica · Democratic Republic of the Congo / Uganda
Field guide: Ebola virus disease
Call sheet

Cyclosporiasis

This story combines official reporting with coverage from 28 newsroom source(s).

Next move: Separate the operational move from the underlying epidemiology before you frame the story.

Monitoring: Toledo-Lucas County Health Department Cyclosporiasis Update

Expanding coverageNorth America · United States
Field guide: Cyclosporiasis
Call sheet

Dengue and arboviruses

This story combines official reporting with coverage from 22 newsroom source(s).

Next move: Pin down whether the transmission language reflects evidence, concern, or pure precaution.

Monitoring: Florida Surgeon General Reminds Floridians to Take Precautions Against Dengue Ahead of Labor Day Weekend

Expanding coverageNorth America · United States
Field guide: Dengue
Call sheet

Malaria

This story combines official reporting with coverage from 7 newsroom source(s).

Next move: Keep the suspected and confirmed lines clean, and find out what testing still has not come back.

Monitoring: WHO São Tomé and Príncipe Newsletter for the 2nd Quarter

Expanding coverageNorth America · United States
Field guide: Malaria
Call sheet

Polio and wastewater surveillance

This story combines official reporting with coverage from 4 newsroom source(s).

Next move: Pin down whether the transmission language reflects evidence, concern, or pure precaution.

Monitoring: Polio Eradication in Africa: Highlights Leaflet (Q1 and Q2, 2026)

Expanding coverageAfrica
Field guide: Poliomyelitis / cVDPV2

Questions To Chase

The fastest routes to turning the current story stack into a cleaner reported file.

Questions to chase

Measles transmission and vaccination

  • What does the official source actually confirm, and where are follow-up reports going beyond that line?
  • How many cases are still suspected, under what case definition, and when will testing resolve them?
  • How many cases are laboratory confirmed, by which assay, and how recent is that count?
  • How many hospitalizations, ICU admissions, or deaths are confirmed, and do they cluster in one exposure group?
  • Is there evidence of human-to-human spread, or only precautionary language around the possibility?
  • What operational change actually took effect: evacuation, quarantine, travel notice, screening, or something narrower?
Questions to chase

Ebola virus disease

  • What does the official source actually confirm, and where are follow-up reports going beyond that line?
  • How many cases are laboratory confirmed, by which assay, and how recent is that count?
  • How many hospitalizations, ICU admissions, or deaths are confirmed, and do they cluster in one exposure group?
  • What operational change actually took effect: evacuation, quarantine, travel notice, screening, or something narrower?
  • Is the new geography a place of transmission, a place of care, or just where exposed travelers were identified?
  • Which of today's links are still thin metadata signals, and what direct or fully reported piece should anchor the file instead?
Questions to chase

Cyclosporiasis

  • What does the official source actually confirm, and where are follow-up reports going beyond that line?
  • How many cases are laboratory confirmed, by which assay, and how recent is that count?
  • What operational change actually took effect: evacuation, quarantine, travel notice, screening, or something narrower?
  • Is the new geography a place of transmission, a place of care, or just where exposed travelers were identified?
  • Which of today's links are still thin metadata signals, and what direct or fully reported piece should anchor the file instead?
Questions to chase

Dengue and arboviruses

  • What does the official source actually confirm, and where are follow-up reports going beyond that line?
  • How many hospitalizations, ICU admissions, or deaths are confirmed, and do they cluster in one exposure group?
  • Is there evidence of human-to-human spread, or only precautionary language around the possibility?
  • Is the new geography a place of transmission, a place of care, or just where exposed travelers were identified?
  • Which of today's links are still thin metadata signals, and what direct or fully reported piece should anchor the file instead?
Questions to chase

Malaria

  • What does the official source actually confirm, and where are follow-up reports going beyond that line?
  • How many cases are still suspected, under what case definition, and when will testing resolve them?
  • How many cases are laboratory confirmed, by which assay, and how recent is that count?
  • How many hospitalizations, ICU admissions, or deaths are confirmed, and do they cluster in one exposure group?
  • Which of today's links are still thin metadata signals, and what direct or fully reported piece should anchor the file instead?
Questions to chase

Polio and wastewater surveillance

  • What does the official source actually confirm, and where are follow-up reports going beyond that line?
  • Is there evidence of human-to-human spread, or only precautionary language around the possibility?
  • Which of today's links are still thin metadata signals, and what direct or fully reported piece should anchor the file instead?

Numbers To Watch

Numbers to watch

Measles transmission and vaccination

  • Confirmed cases and outbreak-associated cases rather than rumor-level totals.
  • Vaccination status of cases and affected communities.
  • School, childcare, household, and travel links that show whether containment is failing.
Numbers to watch

Ebola virus disease

  • Suspected, probable, confirmed, and ruled-out cases by health zone and report date.
  • Deaths inside and outside formal care, especially community deaths and healthcare-worker deaths.
  • Contact tracing performance: listed contacts, high-risk contacts, follow-up completeness, symptomatic contacts, and contacts lost to follow-up.
Numbers to watch

Cyclosporiasis

  • Case counts, hospitalizations, onset window, and the number of affected jurisdictions.
  • Whether officials have identified a common exposure, product, grower, or supplier.
  • Provider-testing guidance and evidence of delayed recognition or under-testing.
Numbers to watch

Dengue and arboviruses

  • Cases, severe dengue, hospitalizations, and deaths.
  • Serotype shifts, if reported, because they can change severity expectations.
  • Urban mosquito control failure and the pace of geographic expansion.
Numbers to watch

Malaria

  • Cases, deaths, and severe disease burden in children.
  • Rainfall, displacement, stock-outs, and vector-control breakdown.
  • Drug and insecticide resistance signals.
Numbers to watch

Polio and wastewater surveillance

  • Environmental detections and genomic linkage across sites.
  • Whether any acute flaccid paralysis cases have been confirmed.
  • Vaccination campaign scope, immunity gaps, and cross-border spread risk.

Framing Traps

Framing trap

Measles transmission and vaccination

  • Reporters often overfocus on raw case counts and underplay outbreak size, exposure settings, and vaccination status, which are usually the more informative signals.
  • Do not confuse place of care, evacuation, or detection with place of transmission.
  • Do not blur suspected and confirmed cases in the headline or lead.
Framing trap

Ebola virus disease

  • Coverage often defaults to cinematic fatality framing or distant-risk reassurance and misses the operational details that determine control: isolation delays, healthcare spread, burial practices, contact follow-up, laboratory turnaround, and whether the headline count is lagging the epidemic.
  • Do not confuse place of care, evacuation, or detection with place of transmission.
  • Do not treat evacuation, quarantine, or travel action as automatic proof that the underlying epidemiology has worsened.
Framing trap

Cyclosporiasis

  • Do not confuse place of care, evacuation, or detection with place of transmission.
  • Do not treat evacuation, quarantine, or travel action as automatic proof that the underlying epidemiology has worsened.
  • Do not let thin brief-source follow-ups outrun what direct or fully reported sources actually establish.
Framing trap

Dengue and arboviruses

  • Do not confuse place of care, evacuation, or detection with place of transmission.
  • Do not let thin brief-source follow-ups outrun what direct or fully reported sources actually establish.
Framing trap

Malaria

  • Do not blur suspected and confirmed cases in the headline or lead.
  • Do not let thin brief-source follow-ups outrun what direct or fully reported sources actually establish.
Framing trap

Polio and wastewater surveillance

  • Do not let thin brief-source follow-ups outrun what direct or fully reported sources actually establish.

Disease Sheets

Disease sheet

Measles

Measles is a clean reporter desk disease because it reveals vaccination gaps, school and household spread, travel-linked importation, and public-health capacity all at once.

  • Confirmed cases and outbreak-associated cases rather than rumor-level totals.
  • Vaccination status of cases and affected communities.
Disease sheet

Ebola virus disease

Ebola remains a defining outbreak-desk disease because healthcare transmission, funeral practices, laboratory capacity, community trust, and international alarm can all move faster than the confirmed count.

  • Suspected, probable, confirmed, and ruled-out cases by health zone and report date.
  • Deaths inside and outside formal care, especially community deaths and healthcare-worker deaths.
Disease sheet

Cyclosporiasis

  • Case counts, hospitalizations, onset window, and the number of affected jurisdictions.
  • Whether officials have identified a common exposure, product, grower, or supplier.
Disease sheet

Dengue

  • Cases, severe dengue, hospitalizations, and deaths.
  • Serotype shifts, if reported, because they can change severity expectations.
Disease sheet

Malaria

  • Cases, deaths, and severe disease burden in children.
  • Rainfall, displacement, stock-outs, and vector-control breakdown.
Disease sheet

Poliomyelitis / cVDPV2

  • Environmental detections and genomic linkage across sites.
  • Whether any acute flaccid paralysis cases have been confirmed.