The challenge of emergent disease and the return to descriptive epidemiology

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Barata, Rita de Cássia Barradas
Publication Date: 1997
Format: Article
Language: por
Source: Revista de Saúde Pública
Download full: https://www.revistas.usp.br/rsp/article/view/24323
Summary: The definition of emergent and re-emergent diseases, patterns of ocurrence during the last 25 years, and the determinants of this occurrence are presented. The importance of descriptive epidemiology and its use in the investigation of these health problems, especially in view of epidemiologists' tendency to give less attention to it, finally, is emphasized the challenges that the emergent diseases pose for public health practice and for the methodological development of descriptive epidemiology are also set out. These challenges are considered in three fields: biosecurity, surveillance systems and descriptive epidemiology techniques.