EpidemiologyLesson 1 of 2 in the course Disease and Epidemiology

Epidemiologic Reasoning: Outbreak Patterns and Study Designs

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 5 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

Epidemiology developed from efforts to recognize patterns in illness and use those patterns to prevent disease. This lesson introduces early ideas about disease transmission and the work of researchers whose observations shaped public health.

People could identify patterns in disease even when they did not know what caused illness. In 1546, Girolamo Fracastoro proposed that disease could be caused by germs and transmitted between people or through contaminated materials. His ideas competed for many years with the miasma hypothesis, which attributed disease to harmful or polluted air.

All flashcards

Miasma hypothesis
The belief that disease was caused by harmful or polluted air.
Confounder
A factor related to both an exposure and an outcome that may offer an alternative explanation for their association.
Common source spread
Infection acquired by multiple people from the same source.
Experimental study
A study in which investigators manipulate an exposure or treatment to examine its effect.
Cross-sectional study
A study that examines a selected population at one point in time.

Quiz questions

  1. In a point source outbreak, how does exposure relate to the pathogen’s incubation period?Answer: Exposure occurs over a shorter period than the incubation period.
  2. What distinguishes an observational study from an experimental study?Answer: Researchers collect information without assigning participants to an exposure or treatment.
  3. What does a prospective study do?Answer: It follows participants forward in time to observe outcomes.
  4. How are participants selected for a case-control study?Answer: Researchers compare people with a disease to people without it.
  5. In a double-blind study, who is unaware of treatment assignment during the study?Answer: Both participants and researchers.

Based on Microbiology by Nina Parker, Mark Schneegurt, Anh-Hue Thi Tu, Philip Lister, Brian M. Forster (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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