Question

What is considered an outbreak?

How to investigate a disease outbreak?

can you please explain the answer in details.

Answer 1

An epidemic limited to localized increase in the incidence of a disease is called an outbreak.

Essential components of an outbreak investigation are

• Establish case definition
• Confirm cases are real.
• Establish the background rate of disease.
• Define outbreak scope.
• Examine descriptive epidemiological features associated with the outbreak.
• Generate hypothesis.
• Test hypothesis.
• collect and test environmental samples.
• Interact with the press,inform the public and tell the story.

The main reasons for investigating outbreaks are

• to prevent additional cases.
• limit personal and economic damages.
• recommendations or strategies for preventing similar future outbreaks.
• describe newdiseases
• learn more about known diseases.
• evaluate existing prevention strategies
• teach epidemiology
• address public concern.

Some of the considerations of outbreak investigations.

• Identify the source and prevent additional cases
• conclude quickly to address public concern.
• Limited cases with limited methods for stat analysis.
• Well publicized outbreaks may bias response.
• pressure to resolve investigation quickly may lead to errors.
• delay in investigations may lead to loss of clinical/environmental samples.