Veterinary Epidemiology and Zoonosis

DESCRIPTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY

• It is the first part of any investigation.
• It involves observing and recording the disease and possible causal factors.
• The observations sometimes may be partially subjective and later on hypothesis will be generated and will be rigorously tested later on.

Procedure

• Defining the population to be studied.
• Defining the disease under study.
• Describing the disease; by time, place and person.
• Measurement of diseases.
• Comparing with the known indices.
• Formulation of an etiological hypothesis.
• Here after defining the things properly, the data are collected and analyzed to arrive at an etiological hypothesis.
• An epidemiological hypothesis should specify the following:
  • Population
  • Specific cause
  • Expected outcome
  • Dose-response relationship: The amount of the cause needed to produce the effect.
  • Time-response relationship: The period of exposure to the cause and effect.

Uses of descriptive epidemiology

• It gives lot of information regarding the magnitude of a disease and the types of disease problems existing in a community or a population.
• It gives clue to the disease: Etiology and later on help in formulation of an etiological hypothesis.
• It helps in planning and undertaking of therapeutic, preventive and control regimen.