They do not need to wait for proof of contamination from the laboratory. As officials learn more during the investigation, they may change, focus, or expand control measures and advice to the public. One of the most important actions public health officials can take to prevent illness is warning consumers quickly about a contaminated food. Public health officials take action to communicate to the public when there is clear and convincing information linking illness to a contaminated food.
CDC is most likely to warn consumers when the investigation identifies a specific food linked to illness, and there is a continuing risk to public health because the food is still in stores or homes.
In this scenario, there are specific, clear, and actionable steps for consumers to take to protect themselves from contaminated food. Foodborne Outbreaks. Section Navigation. Control measures depend on the individual disease concerned. The main strategies for the control of communicable diseases can be summarized under three headings, as in Table 6. Table 6. Main strategies for the control of an epidemic due to a communicable disease.
If all these are properly performed the number of new cases should be greatly reduced. Thus clean water supplies and the correct disposal of faeces could prevent the spread of cholera, control of anopheline mosquitos could reduce malaria transmission, and immunization could protect young children against measles. Secondary prevention can be achieved by finding subclinical cases and carriers and by contact-tracing and surveillance.
Tertiary prevention is by the treatment of cases or carriers so that they do not spread the organism any further. Treat and isolate all cases. The treatment given will vary with the disease and the facilities and supplies available. Increase resistance of local population. Some communicable diseases can be prevented by chemoprophylaxis for example malaria or immunization for example, poliomyelitis and measles.
It should be borne in mind that in epidemics of some diseases, such as typhoid and cholera, vaccination is relatively ineffective. Continue surveillance. During the acute phase of the outbreak, it is necessary to keep suspects at special risk under observation.
Once the epidemic is under control, surveillance for new cases should be carried out to ensure that the control measures have been effective. The routine reporting system may not be adequate to show this and special surveillance may be needed.
Finally, use your commonsense—a good descriptive study can provide better evidence than a poor analytic one! It is sometimes said that there is no point in investigating point-source outbreaks because they are, by definition, over. However, you cannot know that an outbreak is over unless you have at least conducted a preliminary investigation.
Requests for standard questionnaires are often made. Whilst it is true that certain elements, e. The danger is of being blinded by biological plausibility and, if taken to its logical conclusion, outbreaks of salmonellosis associated with contaminated lettuce or melons would never have been identified and controlled.
Similarly, we would still be chasing contaminated hamburgers as the cause of outbreaks of Escherichia coli O, ignoring transmission from the environment and animals. Standard questionnaires are not a substitute for thinking.
These are skill, speed including the ability to mobilize sufficient resources at very short notice , a pre-determined, tested plan, flexibility, and political clout.
Continue to monitor the epidemic curve and routine surveillance data, which should show no new cases or a reduction in incidence. Connolly MA ed. Communicable disease control in emergencies. A field manual. World Health Organization, Geneva. Find this resource:. Giesecke J Modern infectious disease epidemiology , 2nd edn. Arnold, London. Gregg MB ed. Field epidemiology , 3rd edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Heymann DL ed.
Control of communicable diseases manual , 19th edn. Infectious disease epidemiology: theory and practice , 2nd edn. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury.
A dictionary of epidemiology , 5th edn. Case-case comparisons to study causation of common infectious diseases. Int J Epidemiol , —8. The use of the case-crossover design in a continuous common source food-borne outbreak.
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Top Previous Next Definitions A communicable or infectious disease is an illness due to the transmission of a specific infectious agent or its toxic products from an infected person, animal or inanimate source to a susceptible host, either directly or indirectly.
Top Previous Next Why does preventing epidemics matter? Top Previous Next How can we prevent epidemics? Classically, prevention is described as primary, secondary, or tertiary. Tertiary prevention: limiting the consequences of established disease One example of this is providing artificial limbs for a child who has needed amputations following severe meningococcal septicaemia.
Top Previous Next What are the key tasks?
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