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Disease Detectives Cheat Sheet Final
Disease Detectives Cheat Sheet Final
AIDS- acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, spread by blood/ make arrangements with personal contacts
sexually, attacks immune system 2) Establish the existence of an outbreak- compare current number of
Bacteria: Bacteria have 1 cell and no nucleus. DNA and ribosomes cases to previous cases, use health records, documents, etc.
float in the cell. They have flagella to help them swim. They have no 3) Verify diagnosis- Review clinical and laboratory results for the cases,
cell organelles. Gram + bacteria have a strong cell wall with interview patients
peptidoglycan and a capsule. Bacteria also have pili that help stick. (E. 4) Define and identify cases- establish case definition, have clinical info,
coli, streptococcus, diptheria, MRSA, lyme disease) characteristics of the people, place, time, etc.
Case definition- The onset of (symptoms) in a (person) at 5) Describe and orient the data in terms of person, place, and time - use
(time and place) epi curve to describe how many cases at what time
Case Fatality rate- # dead divided by # sick 6) Develop hypotheses- consider disease, interview people who are ill,
Compromised host- host with lowered resistance to infection try and notice what certain characteristics make people have the
Confirmed- diagnosis by lab verification disease
Endemic- occurrence of expected number of cases among a group of 7) Evaluate hypotheses- compare with established fact, use statistics, use
people over time case-control or cohort studies
Epidemic- large numbers of people over geographic area distribution 8) Refine Hypotheses- study environment, use data for more insight
affected with the same disease 9) Control and Prevention measures- immunization, medicine, isolation,
Incidence- # of new cases in a population carry out as soon as possible
Index Case: The first case in an outbreak 10) Communicate findings- Oral briefing for local health authorities,
Infectivity - capacity to cause infection in a susceptible host written report for archives
Malaria- caused by protozoan, spread by mosquitoes (anopheles),
cyclic fever and chills
Cohort Study- used for outbreaks in small, well-defined populations, moves
Modes of transmission: droplet (through air, flu, TB, SARS, forward or backward from exposure
hantavirus), blood (sexual or injected, HIV, hepatitis), direct contact
(touching, leprosy, chicken pox), oral-fecal (contaminated water, Disease? Yes No
cholera, giardia), vector (spread by animal, malaria, lyme disease) Exposed (A) (B)
Morbidity rate- # sick divided by # exposed Unexposed (C) (D)
Mortality rate- # dead per 100000 population Attack Rate- exposed A/(A+B)
Nosocomial infection- an infection that is traced back to a hospital unexposed C/(C+D)
Outbreak- more cases of a particular disease than expected in a given Relative Risk- [A/(A+B)]/[C/(C+D)]
area over a given time Relative Risk> 1: more likely
Pandemic- an epidemic spanning a very wide area Relative Risk<1: possible protective effect
Pathogenicity - capacity to cause disease in a host 0-----------------------1-----------------------
Prevalence- # of cases in a population (per 10,000 or 100,000) Possible protective effect More likely
Probable- many factors point to diagnosis, but no lab verification Case control Study- used when groups are not well-defined compares
Reservoir- site that harbors pathogenic organisms (human, animal, soil) people with the disease to people without, works backward
Shapes: spherical (cocci) Arrangements: staph (clumps) Exposed Case Controls
Rod (bacilli) Strep (chain) ↓ Patients
Spiral (spirilla or spirochete) Yes (A) (B)
Suspected- some factors point to diagnosis No (C) (D)
Tuberculosis- caused by bacteria, cough, fever, fatigue, weight loss, Odds ratio: (A x D)/(B x C)
treated by antibiotics, attacks respiratory system or other parts of body A= number of case patients exposed
Vector- an animal intermediate that transmits a pathogen to humans B= number of control people exposed
C= number of case patients unexposed
Virulence- Degree or intensity of pathogenicity of an organism
D= number of control people unexposed
Virulence - severity of disease that the agent causes to host
Virus: Viruses are small, much smaller than bacteria. They are not Athlete’s foot- tinea pedis (contact)
composed of cells. Viruses have 2 basic components: DNA or RNA Campylobacter Enteritis- campylobacter jejuni (oral- fecal)
covered in protein. Viruses can only reproduce inside the cells of Chicken Pox- varicella zoster (droplet and direct contact)
other living organisms (rabies, AIDS, SARS, ebola, measles) Chlamydia- Chlamydia trachomatis (sexually)
Cholera- Vibrio Cholerae (oral-fecal)
Immunity Inherited-develops before birth, inborn E. coli- Escherichia coli (oral-fecal)
Acquired-Active/natural-exposed to antigen naturally Ebola-filoviridae (contact/blood)
Passive/natural-milk, placenta
Giardia- giardia lamblia (direct contact)
Active/artificial-injections, vaccines of antigens
Hepatitis- hepatitis a, b, c virus (a: oral fecal, b: sexually)
Passive/artificial-injections of antibodies
Jakob- Creutzfeldt- prion(ingestion)
Lines of defense Leprosy-mycobacterium leprae (direct contact)
1. Skin and secretions- acts as initial barrier, mucus catches pathogens, Malaria-plasmodium (vector, anopheles mosquito)
enzymes kill pathogens MRSA- staphylococcus aureus (direct contact)
2. Inflammatory response- injury/tissue damage releases chemical signal, SARS-coronavirus (droplet)
blood flow increases: heat, redness, pain, swelling Schistosomiasis- schistosoma (oral/contact with water)
3. Phagocytosis- ingests and destroys microorganisms: neutrophils, Shingles-herpes zoster (contact, droplet)
macrophages Strep throat-streptococcus(droplet)
4. Natural killer cells- kills tumor cells and infected cells with viruses Tapeworm- nematode (ingestion)
5. Interferon- infected cell makes protein and releases into Tetanus-clostridium tetani (contact)
bloodstream, interferes with reproduction Tuberculosis- mycobacterium tuberculosis (droplet)
Epidemiology
Study of health of population
Uses scientific method
Studies distribution and causes of disease in human populations
Attempts to control these diseases investigates health concerns in
relation to disease
Study design Strength Weakness
Case-control Good for rare disease or Possible error in
long latency, examine recalling past exposure
multiple exposures from a (Recall Bias). Possible
single outcome; less time-order confusion
expensive and quicker to
conduct than cohort study
Cohort Examining multiple Not good for rare
outcomes for a single diseases; costly in time
exposure; examine rare and resources; possible
exposures (such as asbestos loss to follow up over
but not for rare disease); can time; factor, which may
calculate the incidence of be many years in the past
disease (while case control or may be seen as
cannot); best technique for socially (un)desirable
an outbreak in a small, well
defined population; most
accurate observational study
Cross- Relatively short duration; Since exposure and
sectional can study several outcomes; disease status are
least expensive measured at the same
point in time, it may
not always be possible to
distinguish whether the
exposure preceded or
followed the disease.
Experimental Most scientifically sound; Time consuming and
or best measure of exposure Expensive; Unethical for
Trial Harmful Exposures
Hill’s criteria