Disease Patterns
A disease that is present in a certain place at a fairly constant level.
Epidemiology is the study of the
how diseases affect groups of people, including where they occur, who gets them, and why.
Case
A person who has a disease or health condition being investigated
Direct transmission
Disease spreads through direct contact between an infected person and another individual
How many layers of prevention strategies are there?
3
Epidemic
A widespread infectious disease in a community at a particular timepoint
Descriptive Epidemiology is the study of the
Looks at who got sick, where they got sick, and when the sickness happened
Case definition
A set of rules that dictates if an individual counts as having a certain disease in the case of an investigation
Indirect transmission
Disease spreads through an object, surface, or another intermediate/inanimate source.
Primary prevention
Actions taken to stop a disease prior to its start
Pandemic
An epidemic that is across multiple countries or continents, this affects millions if not hundreds of millions of people
Analytic Epidemiology
Studies why people get sick by comparing different groups and their associated risk factors
Primary case
The first person who becomes infected and starts spreading the disease to others
Vector
A living organism, such as a mosquito that carries disease from one host to another
Secondary prevention
Finding and treating a disease early to keep it from worse and worse
Common-source epidemic
An outbreak that originates from the same source, such as contaminated food.
Effectiveness
How well a treatment or a prevention strategy works in real world cases, compared to the control
Secondary case
Someone who catches the disease from the primary case instead of the original source (contanimated source)
Reservoir
The place where a pathogen normally lives and grows before infecting other organisms
Tertiary prevention
Managing an existing disease to reduce complications and improve quality of life
Mixed Epidemic
An outbreak that starts from one common source but later spreads from one individual to another.
Efficacy
How well a treatment or prevention method works under research conditions, like a clinical trial.
Index case
The first case that public officials identify, this does not inherently mean that they are the first case
Fomite
An object that can carry germs and spread disease
Passive primary prevention
Protection provided without the person taking action, such as clean drinking water