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Epidemiological Concepts

  • Chapter
Bacterial Infections of Humans

Abstract

Epidemiology is the study of the determinants and distribution of health and disease in populations. (60a) It is a quantitative science concerned with the circumstances under which disease processes occur, the factors that affect their incidence and spread, and the use of this knowledge for prevention and control. (34) For infectious diseases, one must study the circumstances under which both infection and disease occur, for these may be different. Infection is the consequence of an encounter of a potentially pathogenic microorganism with a susceptible human host through an appropriate portal of entry. Exposure is the key factor, and the sources of infection lie mostly outside the individual human host within the environment or other infected hosts. Disease represents one of the possible consequences of infection, and the factors important in its development are mostly intrinsic to the host, although the dosage and virulence of the infecting microbe play a role.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. WHO Serum Reference Bank, Section of International Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, 06510, USA

    Alfred S. Evans

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  1. Alfred S. Evans
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Alfred S. Evans (John Rodman Paul Professor of Epidemiology) (John Rodman Paul Professor of Epidemiology)

  2. Upstate Medical Center, State University of New York, Syracuse, New York, USA

    Harry A. Feldman

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Evans, A.S. (1982). Epidemiological Concepts. In: Evans, A.S., Feldman, H.A. (eds) Bacterial Infections of Humans. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1140-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1140-0_1

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