Public Health - Infectious Diseases Flashcards
(23 cards)
Health is a … jurisdiction in Canada
a) federal
b) provincial
b) provincial
4 diseases that are ALWAYS reportable under International Health Regulations
- Smallpox
- Poliomyelitis (due to wild-type virus)
- Human influenza caused by a new subtype
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
Any event that meets at least 2 of the following 4 criteria must also be reported under the IHR
Is the public impact of the event serious?
Is the event unusual or unexpected?
Is there a significant risk of international spread?
Is there a significant risk of international trade or travel restrictions?
Under Quebec’s Public Health Act, physicians must report to the public health unit where the patient resides
- Any adverse event following immunization (AEFI) (article 69)
- Any intoxication, infection or disease considered reportable (article 82)
- Any person who likely has a reportable disease who refuses to undergo testing or clinical evaluation (article 86)
- Any person with a reportable disease who fails to complete a course of treatment considered necessary to avoid transmitting the infection (article 86)
- Any threat to population health (article 93)
T or F: You are not allowed to share the patient’s first and last name, sex, date of birth, RAMQ identifier, telephone number, address, occupation
when reporting a reportable disease. This is a breach in confidentiality.
False! You must report this information.
Public health law trumps… (2)
- the patient’s right to privacy
- the physician’s duty of confidentiality
Name the 5 core functions of public health
- Population health assessment
- Surveillance
- Health Promotion
- Prevention of disease, injury, and overdoses related to illicit drug
- Emergency preparedness and response
Measures put in place to control risk/threat to the population should be … to the threat
proportional
What is the Nuffield intervention ladder?
A framework that helps determine the level of coercion when establishing public health measures (gradual approach).
Period between the time a person being infected by a disease and the time they develop symptoms
Incubation period
Period during which you are infected by a disease and can infect others (when you are contagious).
Period of communicability
A person with a communicable disease
Case
person who had a significant exposure to a communicable disease
Contact
What are the 3 main steps in case investigation and management
- Confirm the diagnosis
- Look for the source of the case’s infection during the case’s incubation period
- Stop any forward transmission from the case to others during the period of communicability.
Backward vs forward contact tracing
Forward tracing: Identify people who the case was in contact with after being infected by the disease
Backward tracing: How did the case become infected, who gave the disease to the case, and who else did that source infect
Outbreak in a population vs in a closed setting
In a population: incidence of disease/infection higher than expected compared to the same time of year (because of the seasonality of some infections) in previous years in a given population
In a closed setting (e.g., a long-term care facility, a child care centre): 2 or more epidemiologically-linked cases of disease/infection
Same definition as an outbreak, but over a wider geographic area
Epidemic
An epidemic involving several countries or continents, usually affecting a large number of people
Pandemic
An epidemiologic metric used to describe the contagiousness or transmissibility of infectious agents
R naught
Most transmissible (contagious) disease in the world
Measles
If R naught >/= 1
If R naught < 1
If R naught >/= 1: Transmission will continue
If R naught < 1: Outbreak dies off
R naught can be used to estimate…
the proportion of the population that must be vaccinated to eliminate an infection from that population
Hierarchy of possible public health interventions in dealing with infectious diseases (top to bottom)
- Extinction
- Eradication
- Elimination of infection
- Elimination of disease
- Control
