MMG Epidemiology & Public Health
Terms
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- What is Epidemiology?
- - The study of occurrence, distribution and control of infectious disease in populations
- What are aspects of Epidemiology?
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- Terminology
- disease reservoirs and carriers
- disease transmission
- AIDS and nosocomial epidemiology
- public health - What is Descriptive Epidemiology?
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- Careful tabulation of data concerning a disease
- Record info about location and time of cases
- Collect patient information
- Try to identify the index case (first case) of the disease - What is Analytical Epidemiology?
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- Seeks to determine the probable cause, mode of transmission, and methods of prevention
- Useful when Koch's postulates can't be applied
- Often retrospective-investigation occurs after the outbreak - What is Experimental Epidemiology?
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- Involves testing a hypothesis concerning the cause of a disease
- Application of Koch's postulates is experimental epidemiology - What are the three main types of disease occurrance?
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- Endemic
- Epidemic
- Pandemic - What is an Endemic disease?
- - Disease always present in a population, usually at low incidence, such as STDs.
- What is an Epidemic disease?
- - When many people in a given area contract a disease within a relatively short time
- What is a Pandemic disease?
- - a widely distributed epidemic; could occur around the world at the same time
- Define "Incidence" in Epidemiologic terms
- - number of new cases of a disease in a given area during a given time period
- Define "Prevalence" in Epidemiologic terms
- - number of total cases of a disease in a given area during a given period of time
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What is an Etiological Agent?
Define "Mortality"
Define "Morbidity" -
+ The organism responsible for the disease
+ Mortality - incidence of death in a population
+ Morbidity - incidence of disease, fatal or non-fatal, in a population - What are the stages of disease progression?
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- incubation period
- prodromal period - initial symptoms
- illness (acute) period
- decline period
- convalescent period - What is a Reservoir?
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- site where pathogens are maintained as a source of infection
- Animal reservoir
- Human carrier
- Non-living reservoir
- contaminated soil, water, food - What are modes of disease transmission?
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- Contact Transmission
- Vehicle transmission
- Vector Transmission - What diseases are transmitted by Contact Transmission?
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- Direct Contact: handshake, kiss, sex
- STDs, staph, cutaneous anthrax
- Indirect Contact: drinking glass, sneeze, coughing
- colds, flu, pneumonia, tetanus, whooping cough - What diseases are transmitted by Vehicle Transmission?
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- Airborne: dust particles
- chicken pox, histoplasmosis, flu, TB
- Waterborne: swimming pools
- cholera, diarrhea, etc
- Foodborne: poultry, seafood
- botulism, staph, hepatitis A, listeriosis, toxoplasmosis - What diseases are transmitted by Vector Transmission?
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- Mechanical: insect bite, flies
- diarrhea, salmonella, etc
- Biological: lice, mosquitoes
- Lyme disease, malaria, plague, typhus, yellow fever - What are microbe disease mechanisms?
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- Growth of the microbe in an inappropriate place
- Production of toxic substances (i.e. exotoxins) - What are disease transmission factors to consider when looking at incidences?
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- geographical
- suggests a vector (mosquito)
- seasonal
- flu and colds spike during school/winter
- age group - What is a common-source epidemic?
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- infection of a large number of people from contaminated common source
- usually food or water - What is a host-to-host epidemic?
- - relative slow, progressive rise in incidence; due to host-to-host transmission and longer incubation times
- What are some factors effecting disease occurrance?
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- Virulence of pathogen
- Genetic background
- State of host immune system
- Acquired/Adaptive immunity
- Herd immunity
- Cultural/Public Health Standards - What is Herd Immunity?
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- Example: When about 70% of a population is resistance, essentially ALL are resistant. Resistant individuals form a transmission barrier;
- That's how smallpox was eliminated - What are Nosocomial diseases?
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- Hospital-acquired diseases
- 5-10% of patients;
- 80,000 deaths/year
- immunity and exposure
- rise of resistant microbes - What is the fastest growing category for new AIDS cases?
- - heterosexual adults
- How can disease reservoirs be controlled?
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- Domestic Animal: immunization or destruction
- Wild Animal: immunization or eradication
- Insect: chemical pesticides or biological control
- Human: immunization; quarantine - How can transmission be prevented?
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- food protection laws
- respiratory: masks
- washing hands, etc - How long to Quarantines need to be maintained?
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- Time limit is the longest period communicability of disease
- Used for serious diseases:
- smallpox, cholera, plague, yellow fever, typhoid fever, relapsing fever - How is Eradication accomplished?
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- combination of vaccination, quarantine, and surveillance
- smallpox is the only disease we have been able to eradicate so far - What is Surveillance?
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- observation, recognition, reporting of diseases
- provides forewarning