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10: Epidemiology

  • Page ID
    8692
    • Boundless
    • Boundless

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    Epidemiology is the study of the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations. It is the cornerstone of public health, and informs policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive medicine. Epidemiologists help with study design, collection and statistical analysis of data, and interpretation and dissemination of results. Epidemiology has helped develop methodology used in clinical research, public health studies and, to a lesser extent, basic research in the biological sciences.

    Thumbnail: Mary Mallon, better known as Typhoid Mary, was the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever. She was presumed to have infected 22 people, three of whom died, over the course of her career as a cook. (Public Domain).


    This page titled 10: Epidemiology is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Boundless via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.