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31 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
What is Epidemiology?
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- The study of occurrence, distribution and control of infectious disease in populations
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What are aspects of Epidemiology?
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- Terminology
- disease reservoirs and carriers - disease transmission - AIDS and nosocomial epidemiology - public health |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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What are the three main types of disease occurrance?
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- Endemic
- Epidemic - Pandemic |
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What is an Endemic disease?
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- Disease always present in a population, usually at low incidence, such as STDs.
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What is an Epidemic disease?
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- When many people in a given area contract a disease within a relatively short time
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What is a Pandemic disease?
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- a widely distributed epidemic; could occur around the world at the same time
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Define "Incidence" in Epidemiologic terms
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- number of new cases of a disease in a given area during a given time period
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Define "Prevalence" in Epidemiologic terms
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- 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 |
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What are the stages of disease progression?
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- incubation period
- prodromal period - initial symptoms - illness (acute) period - decline period - convalescent period |
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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 |
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What are modes of disease transmission?
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- Contact Transmission
- Vehicle transmission - Vector Transmission |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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What are microbe disease mechanisms?
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- Growth of the microbe in an inappropriate place
- Production of toxic substances (i.e. exotoxins) |
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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 |
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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 |
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What is a host-to-host epidemic?
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- relative slow, progressive rise in incidence; due to host-to-host transmission and longer incubation times
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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What is the fastest growing category for new AIDS cases?
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- heterosexual adults
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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 |
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How can transmission be prevented?
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- food protection laws
- respiratory: masks - washing hands, etc |
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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 |
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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 |
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What is Surveillance?
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- observation, recognition, reporting of diseases
- provides forewarning |