Descriptive epidemiology is used to evaluate trends in health and disease and to be able to make comparisons among the population and subgroups within countries; and to provide a basis for planning, provision, and evaluation of services.

As a health officer, you have been asked to collect information to characterize and summarize tuberculosis epidemic in your state.

Write a paper in which you do the following:

1. Discuss the pattern and distribution of the disease in the population of your state as well as subgroups within the state.
2. What recommendations would you make to your administrator based on your findings?
3. Describe the basic types of epidemiologic study designs that are used to test hypotheses, identify associations and establish causation.

Be sure you support essay with evidence from the literature.