A disease outbreak is an increase in the number of cases of a particular illness or infection in comparison with normal expectancy. It may stay localized or spread more widely. It can last days or years. An outbreak is different from an epidemic.
During an outbreak, health department staff collect and assess information about ill people. This includes symptoms and exposure history, and may include collecting samples (e.g., stool, saliva) to test for the presence of the illness-causing agent. Health department staff also contact facility or program employees to determine what caused the outbreak and what steps can be taken to prevent future occurrences.
The CDC NERD Academy Module 8 video introduces students to the concepts they will explore in this course, including a hypothetical outbreak investigation and how public health experts work together to address and prevent the outbreak. It also provides tips for educators on how to prepare their classroom and prepare students for participation in the outbreak investigation activity.
The GOAL website and underlying dataset capture a total of 229 outbreak response activities, organized into six broad categories: epidemiology & lab analysis; healthcare and infection, prevention and control (IPC); governance and coordination; humanitarian assistance; and logistics and support. The GOAL dataset has been used to analyze the geographic scale of these outbreak responses and identify patterns over time. The results suggest that the largest percentage of outbreak activities are clustered at a regional level (kh2 = 0.46154, df 8, p
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