Introduction to Epidemiology Flashcards
Who was the first person to investigate multiple interacting causes of disease around 400 BC?
Hippocrates, the father of medicine
What book did Hippocrates write that contributes to modern epidemiology? What does it attempt to establish?
“Airs, Waters and Places”
causal relationship between human disease and the environment
What did Greek, Roman, and Islamic physicians in the 1880s begin to investigate in regard to epidemiology?
humoral imbalances - “Humorism”
= events within the individual
What is the “miasma” theory?
theory from the 1880s that states epidemics, like cholera or the Black Death, were caused by environmental filth
(“bad air” / “night air”)
Who was Edward Jenner?
father of immunology that studied cowpox and smallpox and developed the first vaccine in the 1770s, leading away from the miasma theory
Who was Edwin Chadwick?
lawyer in 1830 responsible for the conformation of “Poor Law” that worked on issues of sanitation amongst the poor and working class
What act was Edwin Chadwick responsible for passing? What did it do?
Registration Act of 1836
kept track of deaths (and causes)
How did Edwin Chadwick monitor the typhus outbreak in London in 1838? What 2 things did his report lead to?
kept a map of households with infected individuals and convinces the Poor Law Board to lead an inquiry
- 1848 Public Health Act
- 1852 Metropolitan Water Act
Who was Florence Nightingale? What is she responsible for?
mother of modern nursing
joined British Camps from the Crimean War in 1854 and noticed more British soldiers were dying from disease than from wounds and found that adequate lighting, diet, hygiene, and physical activity was able to drop death rates
- 42% to 2.2% death rate within 6 months of her arrival in Scutari
Who is known as the Father of Epidemiology? What essay did he publish?
John Snow - skeptical of miasma theory
“On the Mode of Communication of Cholera” in 1849
- mapped cholera outbreaks from 1831 (6,536 deaths) and 1848-49 (14,137 deaths) and suggested that a possible upcoming outbreak in 1854 could be prevented using science
How did John Snow suggest cholera spread?
through water - saw that households around communal water pumps were most likely to have individuals infected with cholera
removed the handle of the most central pump and was able to stop an outbreak without understanding the actual cause of cholera
What was the “Grand Experiment” John Snow conducted?
the 1852 Metropolitan Water Act stated that water companies must move up-river by Aug 31, 1855
there were 2 main companies on the River Thames that were supplying polluted water
- Lambeth Waterworks moved up-river in 1852 (less polluted and before the Teddington Locks)
- Southwark & Vauxhall Water moved in 1855
- 4,093 households with S&W water had deaths by cholera and 461 households with L waters had deaths by cholera
- 6x more likely to get cholera from S&W water
Why was the miasma theory not as popular passed the 1880s?
Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur were doing research on pathogens and causative agents causing epidemics
What 3 causative agents is Robert Koch responsible for discovering?
- Bacillus anthracis - 1877
- Tuberculosis bacillus - 1882
- Vibrio cholera (comma bacillus) - 1883
What was the 5th pandemic of cholera? What were the 2 sides of the argument of the cause?
1892 Hamberg Cholera (17,000 infected, 8,600 dead within 6 weeks)
- Max von Pettenkofer - specific cholera/miasma fermented in the ground, released in the air, and spread by inhalation of “bad airs” (drank cholera-infected water and did not get sick)
- Robert Koch - spread through water, need water filtration, quarantine, and disinfection
Key components of epidemiological studies:
What are causal web models?
model concept that uses component causes to link direct and indirect causes through time
