General Vocab - Disease Detectives

Epidemiology

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.

Endemic

a disease or condition that is always around in an area

Hypoendemic

a disease that is persistently present in an area with a low incidence rate

Hyperendemic

a disease that is persistently present in an area with a high incidence rate

Holoendemic

disease with high level of infection affects a large proportion of the child population

Epidemic

large number of people over a large area getting the same disease

Pandemic

epidemic spread over several countries/continents

Aerobe

organism that can survive in environmental oxygen

Asymptomatic

affected by a condition but showing no symptoms

Carrier

a host with the disease, but they don’t show any symptoms

Case Definition

Clinical symptoms, time, place

• Components of a case definition: Date of Onset, Characteristics of people, Symptoms, Location. Mnemonic: Dire Circumstances Suck L (DCSL)

Cluster

several cases of an illness in the same place time, not necessarily more than usual

Cohort

A well-defined group of people who have a common experience or exposure

Convalescent

(of a person) recovering from an illness or operation.

Determinant

any definable factor that affects a change in a health condition & refers to who,when where,& why

Distribution

the pattern frequency of events health-related characteristics in an area

Distribution

the “who”, “when”, and “where” of a disease

Etiology

the study of the causes of a disease

Fomite

A physical object that serves to transmit an infectious agent from person to person

Fulminant Disease

A sudden/severe onset of a disease/escalating rapidly

Host

an organism that is susceptible to an infectious agent [susceptible, immune, or infected]

Iatrogenic Disease

Illness caused by medication or a physician

Idiopathic Disease

A disease/condition that arise spontaneously/seemingly without a cause

Index Case/Patient 0

the case that all of the disease of a cluster is suspected to have originated from

Inoculation

The increase of immunity by introducing an infective agent as a vaccine

Incubation period

time from when the infection occurred to the onset of signs and symptoms or the first positive test.

Isolation

the separation of infected persons to prevent transmission to susceptible

Latency period

a period of subclinical or inapparent pathologic changes following exposure or symptoms, ending with the onset of infectiousness (or chronic disease)

Lactoferrin

part of immune system, at mucoses

Morbidity

the departure from a state of physical or psychological well-being

Mortality

the state of being subject to death.

Notifiable Disease

A disease that, when diagnosed, requires health providers (usually by law) to report to state or local public health officials

Nosocomial infection

infection whose development is favored by a hospital environment

Opportunistic infection

only causes disease when a host’s resistance is low

Outbreak

cases in excess of the expected number of cases, and are categorized by time, place, and person

Parasite

an organism that lives on or in another

Prophylaxis

treatment given to exposed individuals to prevent illness prior to onset of symptoms

Sporadic

a disease that occurs infrequently and irregularly

Superspreader

individual who is infected and spreads it to an unusually large amount of people

Syndrome

a complex of signs and symptoms that tend to occur together and often characterize a disease

R0

the expected number of cases directly generated by one case in a population where all individuals are susceptible to infection

Reservoir

a habitat where an agent normally lives and reproduces

Vector

a living organism that transmits a disease

Zoonosis

when a disease is transmitted from an animal to a human