BIOL 437 Week One Part 2 Flashcards
Hippocrates
-father of epidemiology
-first to give a rational explanation vs. a super natural
>environmental and host factors
>behaviours
-terms: endemic and pandemic
Girolamo Fracastoro
-identify transmission methods
>air
>contaminated clothing (fomites)
-proposed disease was caused by a rapidly multiplying seed
>seeds transmitted by direct contact, air or contaminated clothing
fomites
- anything that can transmit disease
ex. hair brush, towels, etc
John Graunt
-held many hats
-founder of demography
-considered by some to be father of statistics
-life tables and life expectancy
>published lots of data
-first to quantify patterns of birth, death and disease occurrence
-variation based on gender, location, seasons and high infant mortality
Thomas Syndenham
-physician
-empirical approach (observational)
-classified types of fever (continuous or intermittent)
>some opposed Hippocratic approach
-did not identify causes
James Lind
-focused on time, place, weather and diet of the spread of disease
-specifically scurvy cause and treatment
-founder of naval hygiene in England
-due to deficiency of citrus fruit
>now know it is vitamin C deficiency
-implemented an experimental design
Percival Pott
- English surgeon
- first to associate cancer with occupational exposure
- Chimney Sweepers: Cancer of the Scrotum
Sir Edwin Chadwick
- studied sanitation issues is UK
- disease related to living conditions
- proposed flushing toilets in homes
- sewage system to avoid contaminating drinking water
- improving health of the poor, good for entire nation
William Farr
- London epidemiologist
- one of the founders of epidemiology
- built on Graunt’s work
- collected Britian’s mortality statistics
- reported on cholera outbreak (elevation differences)
- father of modern vital statistics and surveillance
- reported to health authorities and general public
Ignaz Semmelweis
- examining childhood fever (uterine infection)
- hand hygeine
- examination of patients linked to disease onset
- students going straight from morgue to maternity ward without washing hands
- initiated use of chlorinated lime before entering the ward and between patients
Sir John Snow
-father of modern epidemiology
-anesthesiologist
-conducted first outbreak investigation in UK (cholera)
>compared districts (spot map)
>isolated at water pump (got it removed)
spot map from cholera
- had to go to water pump to get water
- geographic distribution of cases
- hypothesized that water might be the source
- certain pump removed, lead to a decrease in mortality rate
causative bacteria of cholera
- not identified until Robert Koch about 30years later
* example of how descriptive epidemiology was used to generated hypothesis testing (analytical epidemiology)
mid-1800s
-epidemics and infectious disease only (acute disease)
1930s + 1940s
-non-infectious and chronic diseases
mid 1950s
-infectious disease AND specific conditions associated with them
1960s + 1970s
-applied to eradicate small pox worldwide
>worldwide vaccination
1980s
-injuries and violence
late 1980s
- control or minimize disease and health problems
- HIV/AIDS, Legionella
1990s
- molecular and genetic epidemiology emerged
- Avian flu
1990s to today
-consideration of deliberate spread of pathogens via biological warfare and bioterrorism
2002
- SARS
- drug resistant bacteria
- Ebola
2019 to present
-covid-19 (SARS-CoV-2)
epidemiology definition (public health)
- study of distribution and determinants of disease in specific populations
- application of study to control health problems
uses of epidemiology in public health
- Prevention: raise public awareness
2. Intervention: decrease cost of healthy food to promote healthier eating
3 levels of public health prevention
- Primary
- Secondary
- Tertiary
primary prevention
- before a person gets a specific health outcome
- can decrease prevalence, risk or rate
ex. vaccinations
secondary prevention
- after disease has occurred but no symptoms yet
- find and treat disease early (potentially allowing for a cure)
- health screening and detection
eg. checking skin growths for cancer
tertiary prevention
- person already has symptoms
- focus to prevent damage and pain (slow progression)
eg. dietary counselling for managing diabetes symptoms
public health interventions
- evaluated using epidemiological methods
1. Individual
2. Structural
individual interventions
- changing individual risk factors or behaviours
eg. education
structural interventions
-changing physical, social or economic factors
eg. provision of clean drinking water
>tax on tobacco products
Big Picture use of epidemiology
- assessing the community’s health
- making individual decisions
- characterizing the clinical picture
- searching for causes
assessing community health
- policy’s
- relevant data
- determine problems and risk
- observe trends
making individual decisions
- consciously and unconsciously by assessment of risk and what you have heard
ex. stairs vs. elevator
characterizing the clinical picture
- collaborative approach between physicians and epidemiologists
- diagnosis at individual level (physician)
- natural history of disease (epidemiologist)
eg. characterization of SARS
searching for causes
- may never prove a causal relationship but can gather enough evidence to support effective changes
ex. remove pump handle during cholera outbreak
4 ‘particles’ (Hippocrates)
- earth (solid and cold)
- air (dry)
- fire (hot)
- water (wet)
4 bodily fluids: humors (Hippocrates)
- Phlegm: earth and water
- Yellow pile: fire and air
- Blood: fire and water
- Black bile: earth and air
