ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET
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A. STUDENT/S TO COMPLETE
Program Name: BOSHE
Student ID Number:20222069
Postal/ Email Address:
allanmvula99@gmail.com
Course Name: INTRODUCTION TO
EPIDEMIOLOGY
Student Names:ALLAN MVULA
Phone Number: 0979277447
Assignment Number:1
Lecturer Name:
Date Due:25/11/2022
Date Submitted:24/11/22
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Student Signature:Allan mvula
Date:21/11/2022
B. MARKER TO COMPLETE
Mark/Grade
Lecturer’s Comments
1 a) Define epidemiology.
Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events
in human populations and the application of this study to th prevention and control of health
problems.
b)Explain the role of epidemiology in public health practice and individual decision
making.
the following are the roles of epidemiology in public health practices and individual decision
making.
 epidemiologists can track disease and predict its future outcomes.
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Identifying risk factors for disease, injury,and death
Identifying where the public health problem is greatest
Monitoring diseases and other healthrelated events over time
 Evaluating the efficacy and effectiveness of prevention and treatment programs
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Providing information that is useful in health planning and decision making for
establishing health programs with appropriate prioritie
Communicating public health information interdependence of these activities is evident
Describing the natural history of disease
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2,i.List some of the contributions of the microscope to epidemiology
Microscopes have opened up many doors in science. By using Microscopes scientists,
researchers and students were able to discover the existence of microorganisms, study the
structure of cells and see the smallest parts of plants, animals and fungi.When it comes
to biology, Microscopes are important because biology mainly deals with the study of cells
(and their contents), genes and all organisms. Some organisms are so small that they can only
be seen by using magnifications of 40x-1000x, which can only be achieved with the use of a
microscope. Cells are too small to be seen with the naked eye.Microscopes are not just used to
observe cells and their structure but are also used in many industries. For example, electron
microscopes help create and observe extremely tiny electrical circuits found on Silicon
microchips. Scanning microscopes are much more sophisticated and they have higher
magnifications than light-refracting microscopes.Apart from biological research use and
industrial use, Microscopes are also used in the field of genetics. Genetics is the study of
variations in an organism generation after generation. Genetic engineering requires the mixing
of genes. Genes are even smaller than cells, which is why microscopes are essential in this
field.Without the microscope, mankind would not have been so developed and many diseases
would still have no cure.
ii.A)James Linda.
CLINICAL TRIALJames Lind (4 October 1716 - 13 July 1794) was a Scottish physician. He
was a pioneer of naval hygiene in the Royal Navy. By conducting the first ever clinical trial, he
developed the theory that citrus fruits cured scurvy. His work advanced the practice
of preventive medicine and improved nutrition.In 1747, Lind did a trial on 12 sailors, the results
of which showed the effectiveness of a mix of lemon and orange juices against
scurvy.However, the experiment occupies only four out of 400 pages of his treatise on scurvy,
in several chapters of which he disregards the observations. Scurvy, Lind writes, is provoked
mainly by dampness. Adding, in the chapter on prevention, that those affected need dry air.
Lind recommends lemon juice only to fight the effects of the dampness inevitable at sea.
Furthermore, the chapter on treatment hardly mentions citrus fruit, and instead focuses on
exercise and change of air. Lemons are mentioned, but Lind adds that they can be replaced by
an infusion.In the third edition of his dissertation,published after 14 years of treating patients
with scurvy, Lind is still unable to confirm the efficacy of lemons. He begins his treatise with
an admission of defeat: “Remedies more absolutely certain, might perhaps have been
expected.” Also, in the postscript, he states: “This strict abstinence from the fruits of the earth
was continued long enough to convince me that the disease would often take a favourable turn,
which cannot be ascribed to any diet, medicine, or regimen whatever.”5 years later, the
physician confirms his opinion that lemon is not particularly effective in treating seamen with
scurvy,suggesting that, if lemon juice is unavailable, tartaric acid should be used. To credit Lind
with the discovery of lemon juice as a treatment against scurvy therefore seems erroneous
 B)Doll and Hill.
COHORT STUDY
he early findings from Doll's group, which clearly identified smoking as a human carcinogen,
had a large influence in the great decline in the prevalence of cigarette smoking, which took
place in the United Kingdom since the 1950s, and in the United States and many other countries
shortly thereafter . This has undoubtedly postponed many deaths in the United Kingdom and in
many other parts of the world and has led to millions of men (and women) having several years
of increased life expectancy. While such a contribution from any one research group is
outstanding, that this group has made major contributions in other major disease areas including
radiation and cancer, asbestos and other occupational carcinogens, oral contraceptives and
disease, treatment of early breast cancer, immediate treatment of myocardial infarction and
aspirin and myocardial infarction is unique and remarkable.Unsurprisingly, Sir Richard Doll
and Sir Richard Peto have received many awards and widespread recognition for their
contribution to public health. Such recognition is well deserved even though such statisticsbased contributions may well be undervalued . Apart from DA Henderson (who directed the
World Health Organization's global smallpox eradication campaign (1966–1977) and helped to
initiate WHO's global programme of immunisation in 1974), it is difficult to identify a greater
contribution to public health in recent times. They really made a difference
3 A) Discuss how infectious and non-infectious diseases relate to communicable and
noncommunicable diseases and conditions.
Diseases are frequently referred to as communicable or non-communicable. Communicable
diseases comprise infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and measles, while noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are mostly chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases,
cancers, and diabetes.Epidemics of communicable diseases follow predictable patterns,
spreading across vulnerable population sectors by disease carrying agents or vectors. That leads
to the term communicable. But recently many people have challenged the use of the term noncommunicable and said that these diseases are actually also communicable.How can chronic
non-infectious diseases like cardiovascular diseases be communicable? The answer lies in the
causation of chronic diseases. Health risk behaviours such as smoking, unbalanced nutrition,
physical inactivity, and excess alcohol use are directly implicated as causal factors for chronic
diseases— but the determinants of these risk taking behaviours are too frequently overlooked.
These determinants should be considered as vectors for disease that are underpinned by the
psycho-social, cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic attributes of populations, society, and local
communities. So the reasons why people undertake health risk behaviours need to be
understood in targeting public health interventions.Modern society promotes rapid marketing of
new behaviours across populations. This is easily understood when considering marketing of
fashion clothing; social “vectors” including peer groups and societal conformity are used to
great effect to change behaviours.The determinants of risk taking behaviours are also rooted in
society where people seek to copy behaviours promoted as desirable (for example, access to
fast food), where peer groups attract the vulnerable (for example, smoking and alcohol
consumption), where society promotes certain behaviours (for example, physical inactivity),
and where low socioeconomic status restricts healthy lifestyle choices
B)List the three general sources of infectious diseases and provide examples
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Bacteria. These one-cell organisms are responsible for illnesses such as strep throat, urinary
tract infections and tuberculosis.
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Viruses. Even smaller than bacteria, viruses cause a multitude of diseases ranging from the
common cold to AIDS.
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Fungi. Eye Infections and neoformans Infection
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Parasites.
4. Determine the range, mode, lower quartile, median and mean of the below: 1,
3,3,5,8,10,7,3 and 14.
i)Range:13
ii)mode:3
iii)lower quartile:2
iv)median:5
v)mean:6