outbreak investigation
OWT-brayk in-ves-tih-GAY-shun
ˈaʊtbreɪk ɪnˌvɛstɪˈɡeɪʃənListen
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Dictionary meaning
the systematic epidemiological process of identifying the cause, source, extent, and transmission mode of an infectious disease cluster or outbreak in order to implement control measures and prevent additional cases; outbreak investigations follow a structured methodology including confirming the diagnosis and existence of an outbreak, defining and counting cases through active surveillance, characterising cases by person, place, and time, developing and testing hypotheses about the exposure source and transmission route, implementing control measures, and communicating findings to public health authorities; field epidemiologists and public health laboratories work together in outbreak investigations, drawing on clinical microbiology, environmental sampling, and contact tracing to reconstruct the chain of transmission
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