One of the most useful outcomes of studying epidemiology is learning to critically evaluate the scientific literature (Aschengrau & Seage, 2008). Critically evaluating this literature is an important skill for public health professionals because epidemiological research findings inform many activities (Aschengrau & Seage, 2008). Munnoch et al. (2008) conducted epidemiological studies of S. Saintpaul infection in Australia in October 2006 and found that cantaloupe production and processing practices pose a potential threat to public health requiring regulatory and educational interventions community. Based on a primary review article written on this topic, this article will analyze how epidemiological research has helped us understand the study design conducted, the source population, the methods used, and the interpretation of results. PURPOSE AND DESIGN OF THE STUDY This assignment examines the evidence in context Epidemiological research linking cantaloupe consumption to S. Saintpaul took place in Australia and affected three jurisdictions, New South Wales, Victoria and the Territory of the Australian capital, and are relatively rare in other states. Munnoch et al. (2008) conducted a multi-jurisdictional case-control study to test the hypothesis that S. Saintpaul infection was associated with the consumption of fresh produce, particularly cantaloupe. Additionally, a hypothesis generation method was used on cases whereby 14 newly reported S.Saintapaul cases were surveyed with a standardized retrospective generation and trawling questionnaire to identify possible risk factors for infection. of food and environmental origin. Commonly reported dietary exposures by these cases were cantaloupe (n=11), cucumber...... middle of paper ......ars), revealed that cases younger than 16 years were significantly more likely to have consumed cantaloupe (OR 17.0, 95% CI 4.3 to 78.8), cantaloupe in fruit salad (OR 10.0, 95% CI 1.6 to 72, 6) and strawberries (OR 3.8, 95% CI 1.2 to 13.3) during the 4-day exposure period. than controls, while for cases aged 16 years, cantaloupe consumption (OR 7.1, 95% CI 1.7–31.3) was the only variable for which a statistically significant association between exposure and the disease was identified (Munnoch et al., 2008). analysis Cantaloupe, strawberries, pears, gender, jurisdiction, and age group were included in a multivariate model. After adjusting for these factors, only cantaloupe consumption (adjusted OR 23.9, 95% CI 5.1-112.4) was found to be significantly associated with disease. This result was not affected by the age-matching analysis (Munnoch et al.., 2008).