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QUESTION ONE

SOURCES OF EPIDEMIOLOGICAL DATA


There are different sources of data on health and health related conditions in the community. The
World Health Organization listed the following as key sources of surveillance data:
Mortality reports
Morbidity reports
Epidemic reports
Reports of laboratory utilization (including laboratory test results)
Reports of individual case investigations
Reports of epidemic investigations
Special surveys (e.g., hospital admissions, disease registers, and
serologic surveys)
Information on animal reservoirs and vectors
Demographic data
Environmental data
a) Mortality Data
Vital statistics
Vital statistics include data on birth, death, marriage, and divorce. Records may be available at
the local and state level within a matter of days or weeks, but they are not always coded or
computerized.
Medical examiner data
Coroners and medical examiners can provide information on sudden or unexpected deaths. Their
reports are available at the state or county level, and include details about the cause and nature of
death that are not given on the death certificate. These reports are particularly valuable for
surveillance of intentional and unintentional injuries and of sudden deaths of unknown cause.
b) Morbidity Data
Notifiable disease reports
Each county government establishes what health events must be reported by health care
providers in that county. An outbreak of any condition should be reported. Health agencies at the
local, county, and national level routinely use the reported data for public health surveillance.

Laboratory data
Laboratory reports form the basis of surveillance for selected diseases, including many viral
illnesses and those caused by enteric pathogens such as Salmonella and Shigella. These may or
may not be part of the notifiable disease reporting system.
Hospital data
Many hospitals have computerized discharge records, primarily for financial purposes. These
records may be used for surveillance purposes. These records typically include demographic
data, diagnoses, operative procedures, length of stay, and costs, but exclude names, addresses,
and other information which could identify individuals.
c) Surveys of Health and General Populations
Health surveys are studies conducted on a representative sample population to obtain more
comprehensive data for monitoring the health status of a population.
d) Surveillance Systems of Disease Indicators
Still other surveillance systems collect data on indicators of disease or of disease potential. These
systems fall into four categories: animal populations, environmental data, drug/biologic
utilization, and student and employee data. Of these categories, the animal and environmental
systems act as early-warning systems of disease potential. The other two categories collect
disease-indicator data that are more accessible than data on the particular diseases themselves.
Each of these categories is described in more detail below.
Animal populations
Monitoring animal populations is an important part of the surveillance system for certain
diseases. Animal surveillance may include detecting and measuring:
1. Animal morbidity and mortality caused by a disease that can affect humans (e.g., rabies)
2. The presence of a disease agent in wild and domestic sentinel animals (e.g., survey of
rodents for plague, of chickens for St. Louis encephalitis)
3. Changes in the size and distribution of the animal reservoirs and vectors of a disease (e.g.
monitoring deer and ticks which are hosts for the agent that causes Lyme disease)
Environmental data
Public health agencies conduct routine environmental surveillance at the community level to
detect contamination of public water, milk, and food supplies. Agencies may also use
environmental surveillance to focus on conditions in nature that support animal populations that
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may be reservoirs or vectors of disease. For example, agencies may monitor tire dumps and other
potential breeding sites for mosquitoes. Other types of environmental surveillance have become
important in recent years, such as environmental monitoring for radiation. In the workplace
hazard surveillance, such as monitoring potentially harmful chemical, biological, and physical
agents, guides strategies for preventing illness and injury.
Student and employee data
Public health agencies may use school absenteeism records to assess the pervasiveness of
influenza-like illness in a community. Employee records, workers compensation claims, and
other occupational data are increasingly being used for surveillance of occupational illness and
injuries.
e) Census:
Census is defined as a periodic count or enumeration of a population. Census data are necessary
for accurate description of populations health status and are principal source of denominator for
rates of disease & death. From these data different health indices could be calculated. Crude birth
rate, crude death rate, age specific mortality rate and sex specific mortality rate are some of the
examples of the indicators that could be calculated.
QUESTION TWO
Uses of Epidemiology data
a) To make a community diagnosis. Epidemiology helps to identify and describe health
problems in a community (for example, the prevalence of anaemia, or the nutrition status
of children).
b) To monitor continuously over a period of time the change of health in a community. (for
example, the effect of a vaccination programme, health education, nutritional
supplementation).
c) To practice surveillance for a specific disease in order to be able to act quickly and so cut
short any outbreak (example cholera).
d) To investigate an outbreak of a communicable disease, analyse the reasons for it, plan a
feasible remedy and carry it out, and monitor the effects of the remedy on the outbreak.
e) To plan effective health services. Effective services, interventions and remedies all
depend on accurate community data.

REFERENCES
1. R. Bonita, R. Beaglehole, T. Kjellstrm. 2006. Basic epidemiology. 2nd edition. WHO.
2. Yigzaw Kebede. 2004. Epidemiology lecture notes for Environmental and Occupational
Health Students. University of Gondar: Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative.
Ethiopia.
3. http://gwxy.sysu.edu.cn/lxbx/english/epidemiologic%20knowledge/Scope%20and
%20Significance%20of%20Epidemiology/import.html

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