Basic Terms
The study of the distribution and determinants of health events in populations
What is epidemiology?
The number of new cases during a specified period
What is incidence?
The person or animal from which an infectious agent is transmitted
What is a host?
Actions taken to prevent disease before it occurs
What is primary prevention?
This highly contagious viral illness presents with fever, cough, conjunctivitis, Koplik spots, and a widespread rash
What is measles (rubeola)?
The group of people being studied
What is a population?
The total number of existing cases at one time
What is prevalence?
The place where an infectious organism normally lives
The process of identifying the source of an outbreak
A measurable characteristic such as age or blood pressure
What is a variable?
The number of deaths in a population during a specified time
What is mortality?
The route by which an organism spreads
What is the mode of transmission?
What is secondary prevention?
This airborne bacterial disease commonly presents with a persistent cough, night sweats, weight loss, and blood-tinged sputum
A disease or health event occurring regularly within a population
What is endemic?
The proportion of people of a population with a disease who die from it
What is case fatality rate?
The period between exposure and symptom onset
Measures to reduce disability after disease has occurred
What is tertiary prevention?
This tick-borne illness is associated with a bull's-eye rash (erythema migrans), fever, fatigue, and joint pain
What is Lyme disease?
A sudden increase in cases above what is normally expected
What is an outbreak (or epidemic)?
The state of being unhealthy from a given condition and the measurement of this in populations
What is morbidity?
The sequence describing how infectious diseases spread
The systematic collection and analysis of health data
What is surveillance?
What is meningococcal meningitis?