Objectives 3-7 Flashcards
what is incidence?
the number of new cases of a disease in a specific period of time
importance of incidence?
provides a good measure of the progress of disease outbreaks
What is prevalence?
the number of people infected by the disease at any one time
What is the importance of prevalence?
provides a good measure of how seriously the disease is affecting the population
what is the morbidity?
the number of cases of a disease in relation to the total population size
what is the mortality?
the number of deaths caused by a particular disease
Define sporadic disease
occurs only occasionally within a population
what are examples of sporadic diseases?
- tetanus
- botulism
- ebola
define endemic disease
constantly present within a population, the number of cases fluctuates but never reaches zero
what are 3 examples of endemic diseases
- gonorrhoea
- chicken pox
- common cold
define an epidemic
a short term increase in the occurance of disease in a particular population
examples of epidemics
- whooping cough
- influenza
- ebola
define a pandemic
epidemic of global proportions
examples of pandemics
- Spanish flu
- HIV
- Covid 19
what is the role of WHO?
World Health Organization
- develops, co-ordinates and implements programmes to improve health
what is the role of the CDC?
Centre for disease control
- monitoring, control and prevention of infectious disease
what is the role of the communicable disease center?
- linked to MOH
- gathers data, monitors trends, provides warning and produces publications
the Health Act 1956, requires clinicians to report what to the MOH?
Notifiable diseases
what is a communicable disease?
any disease that spreads directly from one person to another, either directly or indirectly
what is a non-communicable disease
a disease caused by the normal flora or by organisms that reside outside the body (e.g tetanus)
what is a contagious disease?
disease easily spread from one host to another (e.g. chicken pox)
what is an acute disease
develops rapidly but generally lasts only a short time (e.g. influenza)
what is a chronic disease?
develops more slowly and is likely to be continuous or recurrent for long periods (e.g. tuberculosis)
what is a latent disease?
where the causative agent remians inactive for a long period of time but then becomes active to cause disease
e.g. cold sores from herpes simplex, shingles
