Intro to Epidemiology Flashcards
What are the 5 properties of causation in epidemiology?
1) strength of the association
2) consistency of findings
3) exposure must precede outcome
4) presence of potential biological mechanism
5) experiment: does removal of exposure alter frequency of outcome
Koch’s Postulates
1) disease must be found in abundance in all organisms suffering from the disease but should not be found in healthy organisms
2) must be isolated from a diseased organism and grown in pure culture
3) the cultured microorganism should cause disease when introduced into a healthy organism
4) must be re-isolated from the inoculated, disease experimental host and identified as being identical to the original specific causative agent
pandemic
epidemic at a worldwide scale
Endemic
disease that is regularly present in a particular geographical region
Epidemic
excessive occurrence of a disease in a particular geographical region
Symptomatic period
observation of clinic signs within the diseased host
Incubation period
time from infection to onset of disease (the pathogen replicates by no clinical signs are observed)
Infectious period
the pathogen is shed by the individual
Latent period
Time from infection to infectiousness (pathogen replicates within the host but has not shed yet)
What is a non-communicable disease?
a noninfectious health condition that cannot be spread from person to person
What are the 4 steps of epidemiology?
1) What is the problem? - Outcome surveillance
2) What is the cause? - Exposure//Risk Factor
3) What works? - Intervention evaluation
4) How do you do it? - Implementation
What are the purposes of epidemiology?
1) discover agents/hosts that affect health
2) determine the relative importance of disease
3) identify the population at risk
4) evaluate the effectiveness of health programs
