Programs of surveillance designed to prevent the transmission of disease by any means from person to person or from animal to man.

Notification or reporting by a physician or other health care provider of the occurrence of specified contagious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV infections to designated public health agencies. The United States system of reporting notifiable diseases evolved from the Quarantine Act of 1878, which authorized the US Public Health Service to collect morbidity data on cholera, smallpox, and yellow fever; each state in the US has its own list of notifiable diseases and depends largely on reporting by the individual health care provider. (From Segen, Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992)

Restriction of freedom of movement of individuals who have been exposed to infectious or communicable disease in order to prevent its spread; a period of detention of vessels, vehicles, or travelers coming from infected or suspected places; and detention or isolation on account of suspected contagion. It includes government regulations on the detention of animals at frontiers or ports of entrance for the prevention of infectious disease, through a period of isolation before being allowed to enter a country. (From Dorland, 28th ed & Black's Veterinary Dictionary, 17th ed)

Ongoing scrutiny of a population (general population, study population, target population, etc.), generally using methods distinguished by their practicability, uniformity, and frequently their rapidity, rather than by complete accuracy.

Infectious diseases that are novel in their outbreak ranges (geographic and host) or transmission mode.

Sudden increase in the incidence of a disease. The concept includes EPIDEMICS and PANDEMICS.

Management of public health organizations or agencies.

A health professional's obligation to breach patient CONFIDENTIALITY to warn third parties of the danger of their being assaulted or of contracting a serious infection.

Branch of medicine concerned with the prevention and control of disease and disability, and the promotion of physical and mental health of the population on the international, national, state, or municipal level.

A group of techniques developed to apply scientific methods and tools to solve the problems of DECISION MAKING in complex organizations and systems. Operations research searches for optimal solutions in situations of conflicting GOALS and makes use of mathematical models from which solutions for actual problems may be derived. (From Psychiatric Dictionary, 6th ed)

The composition of a committee; the state or status of being a member of a committee.

The MEDITERRANEAN SEA, the MEDITERRANEAN ISLANDS, and the countries bordering on the sea collectively.

The segregation of patients with communicable or other diseases for a specified time. Isolation may be strict, in which movement and social contacts are limited; modified, where an effort to control specified aspects of care is made in order to prevent cross infection; or reverse, where the patient is secluded in a controlled or germ-free environment in order to protect him or her from cross infection.

Field of medicine concerned with the determination of causes, incidence, and characteristic behavior of disease outbreaks affecting human populations. It includes the interrelationships of host, agent, and environment as related to the distribution and control of disease.

A specialized agency of the United Nations designed as a coordinating authority on international health work; its aim is to promote the attainment of the highest possible level of health by all peoples.

An agency of the UNITED STATES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE that conducts and supports programs for the prevention and control of disease and provides consultation and assistance to health departments and other countries.

Countries in the process of change with economic growth, that is, an increase in production, per capita consumption, and income. The process of economic growth involves better utilization of natural and human resources, which results in a change in the social, political, and economic structures.

The activities and endeavors of the public health services in a community on any level.

The transmission of infectious disease or pathogens. When transmission is within the same species, the mode can be horizontal or vertical (INFECTIOUS DISEASE TRANSMISSION, VERTICAL).

The removal of contaminating material, such as radioactive materials, biological materials, or CHEMICAL WARFARE AGENTS, from a person or object.

The interaction of persons or groups of persons representing various nations in the pursuit of a common goal or interest.

Preferentially rated health-related activities or functions to be used in establishing health planning goals. This may refer specifically to PL93-641.

Institutional night care of patients.

The concept pertaining to the health status of inhabitants of the world.

A course or method of action selected, usually by an organization, institution, university, society, etc., from among alternatives to guide and determine present and future decisions and positions on matters of public interest or social concern. It does not include internal policy relating to organization and administration within the corporate body, for which ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION is available.

The science dealing with the establishment and maintenance of health in the individual and the group. It includes the conditions and practices conducive to health. (Webster, 3d ed)

Time period from 2001 through 2100 of the common era.

Aspects of health and disease related to travel.

Time period from 1901 through 2000 of the common era.

Programs of disease surveillance, generally within health care facilities, designed to investigate, prevent, and control the spread of infections and their causative microorganisms.

Monitoring of rate of occurrence of specific conditions to assess the stability or change in health levels of a population. It is also the study of disease rates in a specific cohort such as in a geographic area or population subgroup to estimate trends in a larger population. (From Last, Dictionary of Epidemiology, 2d ed)

The number of new cases of a given disease during a given period in a specified population. It also is used for the rate at which new events occur in a defined population. It is differentiated from PREVALENCE, which refers to all cases, new or old, in the population at a given time.

A highly contagious infectious disease caused by MORBILLIVIRUS, common among children but also seen in the nonimmune of any age, in which the virus enters the respiratory tract via droplet nuclei and multiplies in the epithelial cells, spreading throughout the MONONUCLEAR PHAGOCYTE SYSTEM.

Divisions of the year according to some regularly recurrent phenomena usually astronomical or climatic. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)

The process of leaving one's country to establish residence in a foreign country.

An agency of the PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE concerned with the overall planning, promoting, and administering of programs pertaining to maintaining standards of quality of foods, drugs, therapeutic devices, etc.

Research techniques that focus on study designs and data gathering methods in human and animal populations.

Any of the infectious diseases of man and other animals caused by species of MYCOBACTERIUM.

Decisions, usually developed by government policymakers, for determining present and future objectives pertaining to the health care system.

Educational programs designed to inform physicians of recent advances in their field.

An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, or inborn or inherited characteristic, which, on the basis of epidemiologic evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.

Factors which produce cessation of all vital bodily functions. They can be analyzed from an epidemiologic viewpoint.

Men and women working in the provision of health services, whether as individual practitioners or employees of health institutions and programs, whether or not professionally trained, and whether or not subject to public regulation. (From A Discursive Dictionary of Health Care, 1976)

An increased liquidity or decreased consistency of FECES, such as running stool. Fecal consistency is related to the ratio of water-holding capacity of insoluble solids to total water, rather than the amount of water present. Diarrhea is not hyperdefecation or increased fecal weight.

Critical and exhaustive investigation or experimentation, having for its aim the discovery of new facts and their correct interpretation, the revision of accepted conclusions, theories, or laws in the light of newly discovered facts, or the practical application of such new or revised conclusions, theories, or laws. (Webster, 3d ed)

An acute viral infection in humans involving the respiratory tract. It is marked by inflammation of the NASAL MUCOSA; the PHARYNX; and conjunctiva, and by headache and severe, often generalized, myalgia.

The concept concerned with all aspects of providing and distributing health services to a patient population.

The total number of cases of a given disease in a specified population at a designated time. It is differentiated from INCIDENCE, which refers to the number of new cases in the population at a given time.

The frequency of different ages or age groups in a given population. The distribution may refer to either how many or what proportion of the group. The population is usually patients with a specific disease but the concept is not restricted to humans and is not restricted to medicine.

Predetermined sets of questions used to collect data - clinical data, social status, occupational group, etc. The term is often applied to a self-completed survey instrument.

Systematic gathering of data for a particular purpose from various sources, including questionnaires, interviews, observation, existing records, and electronic devices. The process is usually preliminary to statistical analysis of the data.

The inhabitants of a city or town, including metropolitan areas and suburban areas.

Includes the spectrum of human immunodeficiency virus infections that range from asymptomatic seropositivity, thru AIDS-related complex (ARC), to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

An infant during the first month after birth.

Diseases which have one or more of the following characteristics: they are permanent, leave residual disability, are caused by nonreversible pathological alteration, require special training of the patient for rehabilitation, or may be expected to require a long period of supervision, observation, or care. (Dictionary of Health Services Management, 2d ed)

Social and economic factors that characterize the individual or group within the social structure.

Conversations with an individual or individuals held in order to obtain information about their background and other personal biographical data, their attitudes and opinions, etc. It includes school admission or job interviews.

The number of males and females in a given population. The distribution may refer to how many men or women or what proportion of either in the group. The population is usually patients with a specific disease but the concept is not restricted to humans and is not restricted to medicine.

The systems and processes involved in the establishment, support, management, and operation of registers, e.g., disease registers.

Studies used to test etiologic hypotheses in which inferences about an exposure to putative causal factors are derived from data relating to characteristics of persons under study or to events or experiences in their past. The essential feature is that some of the persons under study have the disease or outcome of interest and their characteristics are compared with those of unaffected persons.

Knowledge, attitudes, and associated behaviors which pertain to health-related topics such as PATHOLOGIC PROCESSES or diseases, their prevention, and treatment. This term refers to non-health workers and health workers (HEALTH PERSONNEL).

Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time.

Elements of limited time intervals, contributing to particular results or situations.