Microbial Epidemiology

• Microbial Epidemiology is the study of the occurrence, determinants and distribution of health and disease within healthcare settings.
• Health and disease are the result of complex interactions between pathogens, patients, and the healthcare environment.
• Community acquired infection is a disease present or incubating at the time of hospital admission.
• Before arriving at the hospital, the disease has already manifested in the patient.
• Examples of iatrogenic infections include surgical error and yeast vaginitis resulting from antimicrobial therapy.
• Iatrogenic infection is caused by medical treatment or procedures and are a subgroup of hospital-acquired diseases.
• Activities under Healthcare epidemiology include surveillance measures, risk reduction programs, device and procedure management, policy development and implementation, education of healthcare personnel in infection control practices and procedures, and cost-benefit assessment of prevention and control programs.
• Measures designed to eliminate or contain reservoirs of infection and interrupt the transmission of infection are important in healthcare epidemiology.
• Protecting patients, healthcare workers, and visitors against infection and disease is a crucial aspect of healthcare epidemiology.
• Microbiology is important to healthcare professionals as it helps prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
• Hand washing should be the cornerstone of reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
• The infection control policy details what patients have the highest risks for contracting or passing along HAIs.
• Highly contagious infections, such as clostridium difficile (c diff), should be identified as early as possible.
• Staff members need to know how to identify common infections and help prevent their spread.
• Health care professionals may not always wear gloves when interacting with patients, but if any contact with blood or bodily fluids is possible, such as when changing sheets or emptying trash, gloves should be worn.
• Isolation-appropriate protective equipment includes waterproof gowns, gloves, shoe covers, face shields and masks.
• Between patients, every room in a facility should be cleaned thoroughly with a bleach-containing cleanser to prevent accidental transmission of infections as new patients are admitted.
• Non-patient areas, such as the breakroom and nurses’ station, should be cleaned daily.
• No one really wants to wear shoes when ill, but all patients should be encouraged to wear slippers or non-slip socks when walking in the hospital, including in their patient rooms.
• Linens should be properly sanitized and cleaned in laundry, but they should not be left on patient’s beds for extended periods.
• Linens should be changed daily and whenever visibly dirty.
• Foods should be kept at proper temperatures in refrigerators for patient snacks on individual units.
• Epidemiologists study the factors that determine the frequency, distribution and determinants of diseases in human populations.
• Epidemic diseases or outbreak are diseases that occur in a greater than usual number of cases in a particular region and usually occur within a relatively short period of time.
• Epidemiology is the study of when and where diseases occur and how they are transmitted within populations.
• Zoonotic diseases or zoonoses are infectious diseases that humans acquire from animal sources.
• Prevalence of a disease can be period or point.
• If food stays out in a patient’s room for several hours, it should be trashed to prevent spoilage and the possibility of acquiring an infection.
• Incidence of a particular disease is defined as the number of new cases of that disease in a defined population during a specific time period.
• Mortality rate refers to death rate.
• Infectious disease occurs or depends on many factors: factors pertaining to the pathogen, factors pertaining to the host, factors pertaining to the environment.
• Sporadic diseases are diseases that occur only rarely and without regularity within the population of a particular geographic area.
• Pandemic diseases are diseases that occur in epidemic proportions in many countries simultaneously – sometimes worldwide.
• Pathologists study the structural and functional manifestations of disease.
• Endemic diseases are diseases that are always present within the population of a particular geographic area.
• Patients should be encouraged to eat their meals when they arrive.
• Morbidity rate for a disease is usually expressed as the number of new cases of a particular disease that occurred during a specified time period and per specifically defined population.
• Communicable diseases are diseases that are caused by a pathogen and can be transmitted from one human to another.
• The infectious disease process consists of six components: there must first be a pathogen, there must be a source of the pathogen, there must be a portal of exit, there must be a mode of transmission, there must be a portal of entry, there must be a susceptible host.
• Contagious diseases are communicable diseases that are easily transmitted from one person to another.