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Biotech Education Science

Online Epidemiology: RUSICK2 17

Posted by timothy from the name-the-restaurant dept.
surfinbox writes "Forbes magazine print edition mentions Michigan State University's online epidemiology site called RUSICK2. If you get sick from a probable food bourne bug, log in to RUSICK2 and report where you ate and when. When they start to see a pattern, they can take action to prevent further illness. I love the RUSICK2 logo!"
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Online Epidemiology: RUSICK2 More

Online Epidemiology: RUSICK2

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  • Cute logo, but they should've gone with Mr. Yuck.

  • From the site: "How am I supposed to remember what I ate? ... Consult your daily planner or calendar. Consult your check book record or credit card statement. ... Talk to the other people you were with on that day and ask them if they remember what and where you ate."

    Duh. How about just examining your vomitus and/or feces? That should jog your memory. I mean, if you aren't puking or drizzling, you wouldn't be reporting to this site, right?

    Academics can be so, well - academic. This is not intende

    • I think they want to know about everything you ate that day, not just the components still recognizable in your vomit.

    • Re:Remembering what you ate? (Score:5, Informative)

      by bmongar ( 230600 ) on Wednesday September 17, 2003 @01:07PM (#6986906)
      Duh. How about just examining your vomitus and/or feces? That should jog your memory. I mean, if you aren't puking or drizzling, you wouldn't be reporting to this site, right?

      Because sometimes what made you sick isn't what you are puking up or droping out. Some pathogens take over 48 hours to incubate into an illenss by then the food that you ate is long gone.

      I used to work for Communicable Disease Control for the state of Missouri. They had problems with a lot of people reporting resturants as the source of their illness since it was the last place they ate. So they blamed the Wendy's they ate at on the way home from a day at the lake where they had grilled chicken and infected themselves.

      • Because sometimes what made you sick isn't what you are puking up or droping out.

        OK, but it should be at least as good a memory jog as looking in my day planner. How much of what they typical geek eats and drinks came from the corner Smash 'n Grab while he was paying for his gasoline? Like that goes in his PDA or checkbook...

    • Sometimes that's not too helpful. For some people, it's a 4x4 grid of possibilities, and all the rest is just indistinguishable brown goo.

      Purple Koolaid Not Purple Koolaid
      -------------- ----------
      Corn |
      NOT Corn |

      Yep, that's just about it.

  • hmm (Score:2)

    by XO ( 250276 )
    I wonder if I could include the coney island over by where I work, where every time I eat their chili, within 30-40 minutes, it comes out my ass at a very high rate of speed, looking just like it did when i ate it.

    Hmm...

  • All that page needs is a grey background, and it's 1995 all over again! (sigh)

    I love the logo, too. WordArt r0X0rz!

  • My favorite area of the site (Score:4, Interesting)

    by dman123 ( 115218 ) on Wednesday September 17, 2003 @01:49PM (#6987255) Journal
    From http://rusick2.msu.edu/hackers.asp

    Entering incorrect or humorous data is very easy. For example, you will find that the system readily accepts reports of getting sick eating "Goc" at the new Klingon restaurant in town, or most anything else that you can imagine. However, this particular web site is trying to help prevent the 5,000 to 8,000 deaths that occur each year due to foodborne disease. Please respect the important mission of the Forum by insuring that your submissions are accurate and well based on fact. It is also important to remember that all site visitors are on notice that submitted data will be shared with U.S., local, and state health departments; Forum users who submit false information may therefore be subject to civil or criminal liability for such acts.

  • I've actually used the site! (Score:4, Informative)

    by eunos94 ( 254614 ) on Wednesday September 17, 2003 @01:59PM (#6987325)

    Last spring I had the unfortunate experience of getting horrifically ill from a local resteraunt here in East Lansing. I had just read about RUSICK2, so I signed up and headed off to use the site. Sure enough, when I searched for others who might have been ill during the same time as me I found three others who ate at the same place.

    Unfortunately, the site was quite laborious and no one is really going to take the time to fill out *all* the information that they ask for. Here in East Lansing, MI almost no one has ever heard of RUSICK2. If no one knows about the site, the sampling size will never be large enough to be useful. To be fair though, it is a great idea and definitely steps in the right direction.

    And on a side note...avoid the kimchee cheegae. Ugh.

  • Forget the restaurant reviews (Score:3, Interesting)

    by G4from128k ( 686170 ) on Wednesday September 17, 2003 @03:14PM (#6988069)
    Now when I go to a strange town, I don't need to use Zagat's to find a good restaurant anymore. I just need to search RUSICK2. No hits = good eats (or at least nontoxic eats). OK, I guess I still need Zagat's, but RUSICK is a good cross-reference.

    The service does have many sources of error. Illness does not always immediately follow consumption (I've seen reports that bad seafood can cause symptoms 2-3 days after eating). Thus, I would suspect that some reports will erroneously correlate sickness with the most recent meal.

    I also wonder if this service will survive litigation. I can imagine some arrogant chef hiring a laywer to go after RUSICK2 for libel.
    • Actually, they ask you *not* to only write down one resteraunt and blame it. You have to go through everything you ate and from where for the last couple of days. I don't remember how far back (maybe a week?), but it was pretty hard for me to remember all that stuff. Took quite some time too. They don't really have a good system for entering the food either. I imagine that classifying all of the food out there into easily recognizable groups is pretty hard to automate.
  • Taco Bell will pre-emptively sue for bankruptcy.

  • Customer Finds Furry Body In Three-Piece Meal [thewbalchannel.com]

    BALTIMORE -- A Popeye's fried chicken restaurant in Baltimore City remains open Thursday night after a complaint about a mouse found in the food.

    Mouse Found Inside Popeye's Chicken

    Baltimore health officials said they're keeping a close eye on the restaurant after a patron claimed to have found something furry in his chicken dinner.

    Tony Hill, of Baltimore, said he bit into the second piece of a three-piece meal from the Popeye's at Moravia Road and Sinclair L

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