Dear Class,
As we finish off week three & go into week four please remember that the Mid-Term exam is
coming up. Please go back & review content from the previous weeks:
Week One – Definitions
Epidemiology – Greek words epi, meaning on or upon; demos, meaning people, & logos,
meaning the study of. Epidemiology is the study of the distribution & determinants of health-
related states or events in specified populations & the application of this study to the control of
health problems.
Disease surveillance – The principal notification system in the United Sates is the National
Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS). This is state & local vital data for monitoring
deaths from certain infectious diseases (influenza & aids). Surveillance for chronic disease
usually relies upon health care related data (hospital discharge, surveys, mortality data from
vital statistics). Tracks both active & passive diseases. Identifies stages of the disease within an
individual & the populations, measures of incidence, attack rate, prevalence, mortality rates,
case-fatality rates & years of potential life lost.
Endemic – A disease or condition regularly found among particular people or in a certain area.
“Malaria is an endemic”
Epidemic – A widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular
time. “a flu is epidemic”
P&emic – Of a disease prevalent over a whole country or the world. An outbreak of a p&emic
disease.
Common vehicle – Refers to agents transmitted by a common inanimate vehicle (food), with
multiple cases resulting from such exposure.
Horizontal & vertical disease transmission
Morbidity – The condition of being diseased. The rate of disease in a population.
Mortality – The state of being subject to death. Death, especially on a large scale.
Risk – AKA relative risk – compares the risk of a health event (diease, injury, risk factor, or
death) among one group with the risk among another group. It does so by dividing the risk
(incidence proportion, attack rate) in group 1 by the risk in group 2.
As we finish off week three & go into week four please remember that the Mid-Term exam is
coming up. Please go back & review content from the previous weeks:
Week One – Definitions
Epidemiology – Greek words epi, meaning on or upon; demos, meaning people, & logos,
meaning the study of. Epidemiology is the study of the distribution & determinants of health-
related states or events in specified populations & the application of this study to the control of
health problems.
Disease surveillance – The principal notification system in the United Sates is the National
Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS). This is state & local vital data for monitoring
deaths from certain infectious diseases (influenza & aids). Surveillance for chronic disease
usually relies upon health care related data (hospital discharge, surveys, mortality data from
vital statistics). Tracks both active & passive diseases. Identifies stages of the disease within an
individual & the populations, measures of incidence, attack rate, prevalence, mortality rates,
case-fatality rates & years of potential life lost.
Endemic – A disease or condition regularly found among particular people or in a certain area.
“Malaria is an endemic”
Epidemic – A widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular
time. “a flu is epidemic”
P&emic – Of a disease prevalent over a whole country or the world. An outbreak of a p&emic
disease.
Common vehicle – Refers to agents transmitted by a common inanimate vehicle (food), with
multiple cases resulting from such exposure.
Horizontal & vertical disease transmission
Morbidity – The condition of being diseased. The rate of disease in a population.
Mortality – The state of being subject to death. Death, especially on a large scale.
Risk – AKA relative risk – compares the risk of a health event (diease, injury, risk factor, or
death) among one group with the risk among another group. It does so by dividing the risk
(incidence proportion, attack rate) in group 1 by the risk in group 2.
