Main > Medical specialties> Epidemiologist

Epidemiologist

The epidemiologist is the specialist who is engaged in studying of epidemics, that is mass diseases and died counteractions to it.

Belong to duties of the epidemiologist: the analysis of an epidemiological situation in separately taken region, a research of infection focuses, development of the actions directed to suppression of epidemic and their prevention further.

Epidemiologists carry out control over catering establishments, work of treatment facilities and other institutions whose activity can cause damage to health and life of the population.

In epidemiology allocate six directions:

Epidemiology of infectious diseases – the most important part of the general science which arose one of the first at the time of Hippocrates. Is engaged in studying of ways of distribution of bacteria and viruses, including especially dangerous, and will organize anti-epidemic actions, and also develops methods of prevention of infectious diseases. All the known vaccination which delivered a barrier to epidemics especially dangerous infections is a result of work of specialists of this direction;
The epidemiology of noninfectious diseases – incidence of this direction is studying and development of measures of counteraction to diseases which increase in the scale of epidemics, but are not caused by infectious agents. It is possible to give cardiovascular diseases, a diabetes mellitus, cancer as an example;
The military epidemiology – provides anti-epidemic measures concerning army in military and peace time;
Landscape epidemiology – studying of the mass incidence in any region connected with features of the area, including the carriers of diseases living there. An example of a disease in which landscape epidemiologists are engaged is a tick-borne encephalitis;
The ecological epidemiology – studies cases of mass diseases of the people called by an adverse ecological situation. For example, influence of factory emissions on cancer cases of lungs in a certain settlement is studied;
Pharmakoepidemiologiya – the science formed by merge of pharmacology and epidemiology. In the field of its interests influence of pharmacological drugs on big groups of people, optimization of distribution of pharmaceutical means, formation of lists of means of prime necessity and recommendations about their use depending on an epidemiological situation in a certain area.

In what cases address the epidemiologist?

The epidemiologist works with big arrays of information, without contacting directly to the patient. Figuratively speaking if doctors of other specialties save people, then epidemiologists save the whole populations.

Most often in everyday life people face results of work of epidemiologists, carrying out vaccination – whether it be planned immunization of children or antirabic vaccinations (from rage). But also in this case the patient with the epidemiologist directly does not face.

What researches are conducted by the epidemiologist?

Epidemiological diagnosis combines in itself methods of studying of process of spread of diseases, factors, to it promoting and estimates of an epidemic situation in a certain area. It is very important task as a result of epidemiological diagnosis is the forecast of an epidemic situation and development of measures for opposition to the possible or existing epidemics.

The following methods of epidemiological diagnosis are applied:

Descriptive and estimated;
Analysis of information;
Experimental (promotion of certain hypotheses and their check);
Forecast.

Are result of the carried-out work:

Recommendations concerning behavior in a certain epidemiological situation;
Development of measures of opposition to mass diseases (development of the set of rules for doctors concerning treatment of this or that disease which accepted mass character);
Prevention of epidemics (including immunization of the population and sanitary education).

Какие исследования проводит эпидемиолог?

Work of the epidemiologist can seem to someone boring and not such important as we will tell, work of the surgeon, but it far not so. The mankind throughout the history several times literally stood on an extinction side because of epidemics – we will remember the terrible epidemics of plague, "black death" which are mowing clean the whole countries. In order that it could not repeat that epidemics of cholera, smallpox, diphtherias did not return, epidemiologists work.

Modern times create new calls, without allowing to be satisfied with what has already been achieved. To win against tuberculosis, to stop AIDS epidemic, to cope with a scourge of our time – cardiovascular diseases – here the incomplete list of problems of modern epidemiology.

Whether you know that:

In the aspiration to pull out the patient, doctors often go too far. So, for example, a certain Charles Janszen during the period from 1954 to 1994 endured more than 900 operations on removal of new growths.

Синдром хронической усталости – болезнь XXI века

Syndrome of chronic fatigue – a disease of the 21st century

Residents of big cities quite often have a disease which is known as the syndrome of chronic fatigue (SCF) today. This illness...