Disaster Epidemiology Flashcards
what is a disaster ?
the result of an ecological breakdown between humans and their environment.
serious or sudden event t hats a community needs help to cope with, often with outside help or international aid
what are 4 types of disasters ?
- natural- earthquakes, fires, floods, or heat
- outbreaks- emerging infections, bioterrorism,
- technological - power outages
- terroist attacks -
what are the core functions of public health ?
PPP-
prevent- spread of disease, injuries,
protect- against env hazards,
promote - and encourage healthy behaviors
Assure the quality and accessibility of health services
Respond to disasters and assist communities in recovery
what are 3 things for the role of ID epi in disasters ?
- detection of disease
- monitoring of health consequences
- Planning and evaluating outbreak infection control measures
what does Disaster Outbreak Detection do ? 2
Establish the expected number of cases in an area
Identify increases in the number of detected cases of a disease that may suggest an epidemic
what are 3 Challenges of Reportable Disease for Detection of Bioterrorism and other Outbreaks?
- Lag time bt patient seeking care, diagnosis being made and report being submitted
- early on disease may look like another disease- specific prodrome
- Reporting mostly based on known diseases- difficult on unknown disease
what is Syndromic surveillance?
BEFORE-The systematic and ongoing collection, analysis, and interpretation of data that precede diagnosis.
what is the rational of syndromic surveillance ?
Disease caused by bioterrorism agents may look similar to disease
why is Early detection and response is important to the control of outbreaks caused by bioterrorism agents? 2
- Detection based on diagnosed cases would be too slow
2. Need to identify a signal of an epidemic before diagnoses are made
what are the 3 challenges in syndromic surveillance?
- Difficulty in establishing ability to detect clusters
- low specificity
- Difficulty establishing expected value
what 2 methods do we use to monitor health consequences?
- rapid assessment
2. Disaster surveillance
define Disaster surveillance
Ongoing through recovery
define rapid assessment
Immediate assessment and short-term surveys
2 to 4 days
Simultaneous with rescue
what are the 6 goals of needs assessment ?
- Assess for ongoing hazards
- determine magnitude
- Determine medical & public health needs of the community
- determine available resources
- Determine need for external assistance
- Determine how to enhance or reconstitute existing public health surveillance system
what 4 components are needed for data collection ?
- Review existing information
- Visual inspection of affected areas
- Interview with key informants
- Rapid surveys / rapid needs assessments
