Epidemiology-Outbreak Investigations Flashcards
Step one in outbreak investigation
Prepare for field work (assign team)
Step two in outbreak investigation
Confirm outbreak (labs, is incidence excess of expected)
Step three in outbreak investigation
Case definition (who are you counting as sick) and count cases
Types of case definitions
*
Kaplan criteria
Case definitions for Norovirus
Step four in outbreak investigations
Find additional unreported cases from population at risk.
Step five in outbreak investigations
Tabulate and orient data in person, place and time (EpiInfo). Generate epidemic curve.
Types of epidemics
Point source, continuous, propagated
Step six in outbreak investigations
Choose a study design (Prevalence = cross-sectional, known cases = case control, known exposures = cohort)
Step seven in outbreak investigations
Collect risk/exposure information (age, food, location etc.)
Step eight in outbreak investigation
Lab analysis (food, environmental samples)
Step nine in outbreak investigation
Conduct environmental assessment
Step ten in outbreak investigations
Implement control measures
Epidemiologic triad
Stop disease transmission by direct or indirect contact (isolate people who are sick or quarantine people who are not yet sick, but may become sick)
Step eleven in outbreak investigations
Formulate and test hypothesis to explain outbreak