MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY | Infection, Infectious Diseases, and Epidemiology |
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This video discusses the fundamental concepts of epidemiology, which is the study of the causes, distribution, and control of health and disease in a given population. Epidemiology is a descriptive discipline that includes determining rates, or quantifying illness prevalence within a certain community. The attack rate is the most widely researched rate: the number of instances of the disease divided by the population in which the cases occurred. Semmelweis characterized puerperal fever in detail in 1861, 30 years before Koch discovered the bacillus, and advocated effective management and prevention measures a number of years before the streptococcal agent was completely described. One purpose of epidemiologic research is to determine disease parameters.
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