Outbreak management Flashcards
1
Q
What are the 10 steps in an outbreak investigation?
A
- Prepare to investigate
- Establish the existence of an outbreak
- Establish a case definition
- Find cases & develop a line list
- Create an epidemic curve of outbreak cases
- Develop a hypothesis to ID the type of OB.
- Evaluate hypothesis to compare risk factors
- Implement control+prevention measures
- Communicate findings
- Maintain surveillance
2
Q
What type of epidemic curve is shown here?
Why so?
A
Point source curve.
All cases occurred within one incubation period.
3
Q
What type of epidemic curve is shown here?
Why so?
A
Common source curve.
E.g. patients were exposed to a common harmful agent.
They can be intermittent or continuous, this looks like an intermittent exposure.
4
Q
What type of epidemic curve is shown here?
Why so?
A
Propagated curve.
Successively taller peaks.
E.g. person-to-person transmission, beginning with an index case.
5
Q
How are outbreaks detected?
A
- Direct reporting
- Active surveillance
- Passive surveillance
- Syndromic surveillance
- Sentinel
- Early warning tools (e.g. ProMED)
6
Q
What is an “outbreak”?
A
The occurrence of more cases of disease than expected in a given area, or among a specific group of people, over a particular period of time.
– CDC
