Chapter 37: The Epidemiology and Public Health Microbiology – Flashcards
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Epidemiology
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science that evaluates occurrence, determinants, distribution, and control of health and disease in a defined human population
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epidemiologist
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one who practices epidemiology
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sporadic disease
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disease that occurs occasionally and at irregular intervals
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endemic disease
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disease that maintains a relatively steady low-level frequency at a moderately regular interval
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hyperendemic diseases
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disease that gradually increase in occurrence frequency above endemic level but not to epidemic level
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outbreak
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sudden, unexpected occurrence of disease; usually focal or in a limited segment of population
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epidemic
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sudden increase in frequency above expected number
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index case
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first case in an epidemic
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pandemic
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increase in disease occurrence within large population over wide region (usually worldwide)
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public health surveillance
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science of protecting populations and improving the health of human communities through education, promotion of healthy lifestyles, and prevention of disease and injury
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statistics
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mathematics dealing with collection, organization, and interpretation of numerical data
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Incidence/morbidity rate
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The number of new cases of a disease during a specified period divided by a number of individuals in the population
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Prevalence
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total number of individuals infected at any one time - depends both on incidence rate and duration of illness
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Mortality rate
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number of deaths from a disease per number of cases of the disease
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infectious disease
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disease resulting from an infection by microbial agents such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and helminths
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communicable disease
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disease that can be transmitted from one host to another
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common source epidemic
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epidemic that results from single common contaminated source such as food
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propagated epidemic
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epidemic that results from the introduction of a single infected individual into a susceptible population which is propagated to others
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Herd immunity
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resistance of a population to infection and to spread of an infectious organism because of the immunity of a large percentage of the population; level can be altered by introduction of new susceptible individuals into population
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antigenic shift
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major change in antigenic character of pathogen
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antigenic drift
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smaller antigenic changes
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Nosocomial infections
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hospital-acquired infections; from pathogens that develop within a hospital or other clinical care facility and are acquired by patients while they are in the facility
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Endogenous pathogen
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brought into hospital by patient or acquired when patient is colonized after admission
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exogenous pathogen
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microbiota other than the patient's
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autogenous infection
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caused by an agent derived from microbiota of patient despite whether it became part of patient's microbiota following admission
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vaccine
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preparation of microbial antigens used to induce protective immunity; may consist of killed, living, weakened (attenuated) microbes or inactivated bacterial toxins (toxoids), purified cell material, recombinant vectors, or DNA
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immunization
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result obtained when vaccine stimulates immunity
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Adjuvants
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mixed with antigens in vaccines to enhance the rate and degree of immunization; can be any nontoxic material that prolongs antigen interaction with immune cells and stimulates the immune response to the antigen
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Whole cell vaccines
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most current vaccines active against bacteria and viruses consist of the microbes that are either inactivated (killed) or attenuated (live but avirulent) - may not protect - immunosuppressed at risk of getting disease - attenuated may revert to virulent
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Acellular or Subunit vaccines
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the use of specific, purified macromolecules derived from pathogenic microbes helps avoid some of the risks associated with whole-cell vaccines - forms: capsular polysaccharides, recombinant surface antigens, inactivated exotoxins
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Recombinant-vector vaccines
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pathogen genes that encode major antigens inserted into nonvirulent viruses or bacteria which serve as vectors and express the inserted gene
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DNA vaccines
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DNA directly introduced into host cell via air pressure or gene gun - DNA pathogen taken into nucleus and DNA fragment is expressed
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bioterrorism
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intentional or threatened use of viruses, bacteria, fungi, or toxins from living organisms to produce death or disease in humans, animals, and plants
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remote sensing
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gathering of digital images of the earths surface adn transforming the image into maps
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geographic information system
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a computer system that can capture, store, query, analyze, and display RS
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John Snow
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"Father of Epidemiology", studied the London Cholera epidemics of 1848 & 1854, suspected it was from the water, as most cases were found close to the Broad Street pump
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epidemiological methods
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- public health surveillance - remote sensing and GIS
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prevention and control of epidemics
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- reduce the ultimate source of infection - break connection between source and susceptible individual - reduce susceptible individuals
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passive immunization
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body receives antibodies produced by other humans or the body receives antibodies produced by an animal
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active immunization
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Intentionally expose individual to a form of the antigen that doesn't produce the disease, VACCINATION
