Epidemiology

Assistant Prof.
Engy Mohamed El Nahas
Acting Vice Dean For Education and students Affair
 Objectives of the lecture
O By the end of the lecture you will be able to:
O 1) Define the term epidemiology and
epidemiologist, and explain their importance in
community health.
O 2) Differentiate between endemic , epidemic and
pandemic.
O 3) List some diseases that caused epidemics
and pandemic in the past and some that are
occurring today.
 Introduction
O When illness, injury, or death occur at unexpected or
unacceptable levels in a community or population,
epidemiologists seek to collect information about the
disease status of the community.
O First, epidemiologists want to know how many people are
sick. Second, they want to know who is sick—the old? the
young? males? females? rich? poor? They also want to
know when the people became sick, and finally, where the
sick people live or have traveled.
O In summary, epidemiologists want to know what it is that
the sick people have in common. For this reason,
epidemiology is sometimes referred to as population
medicine.
 Epidemiologists
O Epidemiologists are scientists who study
diseases within populations of people. In
essence, these public health professionals
analyze what causes disease outbreaks in
order to treat existing diseases and prevent
future outbreaks.
Definition of epidemiology
O Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and
determinants of health-related states or events
in specified populations, and the application of
this study to the control of health problems.

O Epidemiology is one of the community health

activities “aimed at protecting or improving the
health of a population or community”
 EPI DEMOS LOGOS
upon people study

Epidemiology is “the study of that which is

upon the people.”
 O Distribution
O Epidemiology is concerned with the frequency
and pattern of health events in a population.

O Frequency means measuring the magnitude of

the health problem in the community, in terms of
morbidity and mortality rates
O It refers not only to the number of health events
such as the number of cases of meningitis or
diabetes in a population, but also to the
relationship of that number to the size of the
population.
O Pattern refers to the occurrence of health-related events
by time, place, and person.
1) Time patterns may be annual, seasonal, weekly, daily,
hourly, weekday versus weekend, or any other breakdown
of time that may influence disease or injury occurrence.
2) Place patterns include geographic variation,
urban/rural differences, and location of work sites or
schools.
3) Personal characteristics include demographic factors
which may be related to risk of illness, injury, or disability
such as age, sex, marital status, and socioeconomic
status, as well as behaviors and environmental exposures.
 Determinants

O Determinants are the causes and other factors

that influence the occurrence of disease and
other health-related events.

O Epidemiologists assume that illness does not

occur randomly in a population, but happens
only when the right accumulation of risk factors
or determinants exists in an individual.
 Health-related states or events
O Many epidemiologists use the term “disease” as
shorthand for the wide range of health-related
states and events that are studied.

O In community health, diseases are usually

classified as acute or chronic, or as
communicable (infectious) or non-communicable
(noninfectious).
 Types of epidemiology

O Descriptive epidemiology

O Examining the distribution of a disease in a

population, and observing the basic features
of its distribution in terms of time, place,
and person.
 Types of epidemiology

O Analytic epidemiology
O Epidemiologists use analytic epidemiology to
search for the determinants and provide the
“Why” and “How” of such events.
 Outbreak
 When more cases of a disease than expected are
recorded in one area an outbreak is declared.
 The area could be a small community or extend to
several countries.
 An outbreak could even be a single case of a
contagious disease new to a community or not seen
for a long time.
 Outbreaks can last for a few days, weeks or even
several years.
 There are three types of outbreak an endemic, an
epidemic or a pandemic
 Endemic
O Endemic is derived from Greek en meaning
in and demos meaning people. It is used to
describe a disease that is present at an
approximately constant level within a society or
country. Each country may have a disease that is
unique, for example
O Varicella, more commonly known as
chickenpox in the UK. It is more common in
children under the age of 10, who often only
experience mild symptoms and after exposure
develop a natural immunity to the virus.
Although there is a vaccine available it is only
offered to those who are seen as vulnerable.
O Malaria is another infectious disease that is
endemic to Africa; through education and
implementing countrywide strategies the
cases of Malaria are now falling .
 Epidemic
O An epidemic is derived from Greek epi meaning
upon or above and demos meaning people and
is the term used to describe a situation where a
disease spreads rapidly to a large number of
people in a given population over a short time
period.
O The world has experienced several epidemics posing
serious threat to global public health, including the
2002 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
epidemic that caused 800 deaths out of about 8 000
cases, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic with 18 500 deaths,
the 2012 Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)
epidemic that caused 800 deaths out of 2 500 cases,
the 2014 Ebola outbreak with 28 616 cases and 11
310 deaths.
 Pandemic
O A pandemic is derived from Greek pan meaning
all and demos meaning people and is the term used
to describe the rapid spread of a transmissible
(infectious/communicable disease) over several
continents or worldwide.
O Once an epidemic becomes global and affects a
large percent of the population it becomes known as
a pandemic.

 In history there have been a number of devastating

pandemics including smallpox virus spread,
tuberculosis and the black death (plague bacteria),
which killed more than 75 million people in 1350.
O The influenza pandemic of 1918 is an example.
This disease spread from France to Spain and
then to England and the rest of Europe. It then
spread to China and West Africa and eventually
reached the United States, Australia, and New
Zealand. An estimated 25 million people died
over several years as a result of this pandemic.
O The current outbreak of acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is another
example of a pandemic. During 2003, an
estimated 3 million people died of AIDS
worldwide.
O The current coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
pandemic with more than 35 000 deaths out of
over 730 000 confirmed cases till now.
O Emerging infectious diseases continue to infect
and reduce human populations. The COVID-19
pandemic has spread to more than 114
countries before it was officially declared as a
pandemic by the WHO on the 11th March 2020.
Escalation of an Epidemic to a
Pandemic

O The World Health Organization (WHO) will

declare a Pandemic when a disease has
shown exponential growth - dramatically
increasing rate of growth, each day showing
many more cases than the previous day. A
current example of this is the Coronavirus
Disease (COVID-19).
Thank You