Epidemiology Flashcards
Who conducted the first epidemiology study related to cholera?
John Snow
John Snow’s studies in 1849 and 1854 identified the Broad Street water pump as a source of cholera infection.
What is the definition of an endemic disease?
A disease that maintains a steady, but low frequency and at moderately regular intervals within a geographic area.
What does the term epidemic refer to?
A disease that has a sudden increase in occurrence above an expected level.
What is the key goal in managing outbreaks?
Break the chain of transmission.
What are the three main strategies for managing outbreaks?
- Eliminate source
- Break the link
- Immunisation
Define incidence in epidemiology.
The number of new cases over a certain time period.
How is mortality rate calculated?
Number of deaths due to a given disease / Size of the total population with the same disease per 100,000 persons or as %.
What is the definition of prevalence in epidemiology?
The total number of individuals infected within a population at any one time.
What is an outbreak of disease?
A sudden unexpected occurrence of a disease usually focused about a limited segment of the population.
Identify two types of epidemics.
- Common source epidemic
- Host-to-host epidemic
What factors affect the susceptibility of a population to infection?
- Age
- Sex
- Nutritional status
- Immunological status
- Social behaviour
- Previous exposure
- Environmental factors
What are reservoirs of infection?
- Animals
- Water and soils
- Biting arthropods
- Humans
What is the difference between communicable and non-communicable diseases?
Communicable diseases can be easily transmitted, while non-communicable diseases cannot.
Fill in the blank: The capability of being easily communicated or transmitted is known as _______.
[communicability]
What defines a pandemic disease?
An increase in disease occurrence within a large population over a very wide region.
Provide an example of a pandemic.
- 1918 Spanish Flu
- 2009 Swine Flu
- 2019 Covid-19
What is the incubation period in the context of infectious diseases?
The time between exposure to the infection and the appearance of symptoms.
True or False: The mortality rate is the incidence of death in a population due to a particular disease per unit of time.
True
What is the significance of Robert Koch in epidemiology?
Confirmed Vibrio cholera as the infectious agent and developed Koch’s postulates.
What is a sporadic disease?
A disease which occurs occasionally and at irregular intervals within a human population.
What are the periods of disease progression?
- Incubation period
- Prodromal period
- Period of illness
- Period of decline
- Period of convalescence
What was the outcome of the removal of the Broad Street water pump?
Cases of cholera went down.
What is the importance of treating sewage in outbreak management?
It helps to eliminate the source or reservoir of infection.
What is the relationship between prevalence and incidence?
Prevalence is the total number of cases at a given time, while incidence is the number of new cases over a certain period.
Fill in the blank: The total number of deaths from tuberculosis in one year was 10,000, with a total number of infected individuals of 40,000. The mortality rate would be = _______.
[25%]
