1. Unit 1: Intro to Pathology Set #1

2. Pathology vs. Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study of the frequency and distribution of disease in order to identify its: –Cause –Source –Route of transmission Epidemiology is concerned with the rate of disease in a given population.

3. Pathology is the study and diagnosis of disease through the examination of organs, tissues and body fluids. Main way to study: –Autopsy

4. Epidemic vs. pandemic A disease that is native to a local region is called an endemic disease. –Ex: An epidemic is the occurrence of a disease in larger numbers than would be expected in a given population.

5. Ex: An outbreak of influenza that affects thousands of people in a month in a nation and a half dozen cases of a rare form of liver cancer affecting industrial workers in a chemical plant over a period of several years.

6. A pandemic is an epidemic of world-wide proportions. Ex: The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I, at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people.

7. Reservoirs of infection Human Reservoirs: Infected people and people who are carriers of the infection. Nonhuman Reservoirs: Diseases such as plague and rabies that can be transmitted to humans but exist primarily in other animals.

8. Environmental reservoirs are impossible to eliminate.