Contents
- Page 2
- Identifying Outbreaks
- Why Investigate Outbreaks?
- Steps in the Investigation of a Disease Outbreak
- Page 3
- Step 1: Prepare for the Investigation
- Step 2: Verify the Diagnosis & Presence of an Outbreak
- Be aware that apparent changes in disease frequency can result from:
- Laboratory testing can be important for several reasons:
- Page 4
- Step 3: Establish a Case Definition; Identify Cases
- Case Definitions
- Example #1: CDC Case Definition for Giardiasis
- Example #2: CDC Case Definitions for Viral Hepatitis
- Clinical criteria for a Case Definition
- Categories of Cases: Confirmed, Probable, and Possible Cases
- Case Finding
- Page 5
- Step 4: Conduct Descriptive Epidemiology
- Collecting and Recording Data: The Line Listing
- What Information Should Be Collected?
- Variation Over Time - Epidemic Curves
- Epidemic Curves
- Constructing an Epidemic Curve in Excel
- Interpretation of Epidemic Curves
- Variation by place
- Variation by Personal Characteristics
