Public Health and Nursing

Infectious Disease and Epidemiology

Infectious disease epidemiology is the study of population-based infectious diseases, as well as sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, diarrheal pathogens, and tuberculosis; and research associated to vaccines and vaccine efficacy. The study of the incidence and spread of infectious diseases in populations over time. To determine the dynamics of infection factors like Host, pathogen and environmental are monitored, as the ultimate goal is to devise intervention strategies. It is quite often said that “Epidemiology is the basic science of preventive medicine.” To prevent a diseases, it is very important to know the causing agents, risk factors, and circumstances that lead to a specific disease. This is even more important for communicable infectious disease prevention, since simple interventions might break the chain of transmission. Preventing cardiovascular diseases or cancer is much more difficult because it always requires multiple long-term interventions requiring lifestyle changes and behavior modification, which are difficult to achieve.