Epidemiology descriptive

LILLEHAUG A, LUNESTAD BT and GRAVE K (2003), Epidemiological description of bacterial diseases in Norwegian aquaculture - a description based on antibiotic prescription data for the ten-year period 1991 to 2000 , Dis Aquat Org, 53, 115-125. 

The primary purpose of this chapter is to provide public health officials, physicians, toxicologists, and other interested individuals and groups with an overall perspective on the toxicology of methyl parathion. It contains descriptions and evaluations of toxicological studies and epidemiological investigations and provides conclusions, where possible, on the relevance of toxicity and toxicokinetic data to public health. 

M. D. Nettleman. Biological Warfare and Infection Control. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 12, no. 6 (June 1991) 368-372. Source for typhus description. 

This section only gives a brief description of the parasite epidemiology and control. The interested reader is asked to refer to parasitological textbooks for more details. 

Health-care providers, clinical laboratory personnel, infection control professionals, and health departments play critical and complementary roles in recognizing and responding to illnesses caused by intentional release of biologic agents. The syndrome descriptions, epidemiologic clues, and laboratory recommendations in this report provide basic guidance that can be implemented immediately to improve recognition of these events. 

There are two basic kinds of epidemiological studies, descriptive and analytical. The goal of the first is to describe the occurrence of disease in populations. Analytical studies identify and explain the cause of the disease. For instance, descriptive epidemiology may identify a new disease such as AIDS. Interpretation of descriptive results leads to analytical studies that examine the disease in more detail. Since epidemiology is the study of disease in populations, the proportion of affected individuals in a population is of basic importance. However, the epidemic pattern has varied from country to country. In the United States and the United Kingdom, 65% and 85%, respectively, of AIDS cases have... 

Respiratory Effects. Effusions and alveolar infiltrations of the lung occurred in a man who had washed his hair with an unknown amount of diesel fuel (Barrientos et al. 1977). Effects resulting from inhalation versus dermal exposure could not be distinguished in this case. An epidemiological study found a significant increase in feelings of "thoracic oppression" (no description provided) in workers who were chronically exposed to jet fuels by the inhalation, oral, and/or dermal exposure routes (Knave et al. 1978). The limitations of the study are discussed in detail in Section 2.2.1.2 under Respiratory Effects. 

Different methods are used in epidemiology. Epidemiological studies are often divided into descriptive studies and analytic studies. 

There are two principal forms of statistics descriptive and inferential. The purpose of descriptive statistics is to give a description of the data that have been collected, whether from a clinical trial, epidemiological investigation or survey. Inferential statistics is aimed at making probability-based statements about h)q)otheses, parameters of populations, etc. 

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