About the Course

Getting an infectious disease outbreak under control as quickly as possible has the potential to save lives. This course is a concise introduction covering all the essential skills in managing an outbreak of an infectious disease. It is designed for all healthcare professionals working in primary, secondary and community care to familiarise themselves with the essential components of outbreak management. Through this course you will learn how to form an outbreak management team, make basic epidemiological calculations, identify and describe common types of disease outbreak, and implement a surveillance plan. You will also learn what immediate public health actions to take to control common types of outbreak.

About the Author

Dr. Tim Crocker-Buque

Tim is a public health registrar currently completing a PhD at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is an Honorary Clinical Lecturer at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, where he manages a health partnerships project funded by the Tropical Health Education Trust and DFiD

Course Curriculum

  • 1

    1. Introduction

    • Introduction

    • Recognising an outbreak
  • 2

    2. Forming an Outbreak Management Team

    • Steps in outbreak management

    • Confirming the diagnosis

    • Form an outbreak control team

    • Beginning communications

    • Establishing a case definition
  • 3

    3. Basic Epidemiological Calculations

    • Calculating epidemiological characteristics

    • Mixed (point source & propagated person to person transmission)

    • Point source outbreak

    • Extended common source outbreak

    • Propagated outbreak

    • Plotting the epidemic curve

    • Characterising the infectious disease

  • 4

    4. Surveillance Plan

    • Implementing infectious disease surveillance

    • Notification

    • Undertake contact tracing

    • Identify source of outbreak

    • Undertake further analysis

    • Implement and evaluate
  • 5

    5. Measles

    • An outbreak of Measles in a school

    • Symptoms of measles

    • Public health action
  • 6

    6. Diarrhoea and Vomiting

    • An outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting
  • 7

    7. Cholera

    • An outbreak of Cholera from unknown source

    • Monitoring and evaluation
  • 8

    8. Summary

    • Conclusion

    • How likely are you to recommend Controlling an Infectious Disease Outbreak course to a friend or colleague?

You might also be interested in: