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close this bookEpidemiologic Surveillance after Natural Disaster (PAHO - OPS; 1982; 105 pages) [FR] [ES]
View the documentHealth for all by the year 2000
View the documentPreface
View the documentAcknowledgment and references
_texticongoopenfolder_Part 1 : Epidemiologic surveillance and disease control after natural disaster
_texticongoopenfolder_Chapter 1 : Risk factors for communicable diseases after disasters
View the documentEpidemiologic factors that determine the potential of communicable disease transmission
View the documentThe relative risk of communicable disease after natural versus manmade disasters
View the documentPostdisaster experience with communicable disease
_texticongoopenfolder_Chapter 2 : Postdisaster potential of communicable disease epidemics
View the documentExposure of susceptibles to endemic communicable disease
View the documentIncreases in levels of endemic communicable disease in local populations
View the documentSpecial problems with communicable disease in encamped populations
View the documentCommunicable diseases after disasters
_texticongoopenfolder_Chapter 3 : Setting up surveillance systems
View the documentSurveillance of diseases between disasters under normal conditions
View the documentSurveillance sources following disaster
View the documentDiseases to include in the surveillance
View the documentThe collection, interpretation and utilization of data
View the documentProviding feedback to the field from the central level
_texticongoopenfolder_Chapter 4 : Operational aspects of disease surveillance after disaster
View the documentField investigation of rumors and reports of communicable disease
View the documentGaining access to laboratories to obtain definitive diagnoses and support for epidemiologic investigations
View the documentPresenting epidemiologic information to decision makers
View the documentSurveillance during and after the recovery phase
_texticongoopenfolder_Chapter 5 : The control of communicable disease after disaster
View the documentImmunization
View the documentChemotherapy
View the documentQuarantine and isolation
_texticongoopenfolder_Part 2 : Annexes
View the documentAnnex 1 : List of key epidemiologic contacts in the western hemisphere
View the documentAnnex 2 : Pan American health organization country offices and centers
View the documentAnnex 3 : PAHO/WHO collaborating centers and reference laboratories for selected communicable diseases of public health importance
View the documentAnnex 4 : Summary of sanitation requirements during disasters
View the documentAnnex 5 : Factors to be considered in relation to vaccination in emergencies
View the documentAnnex 6 : References

Chapter 1 : Risk factors for communicable diseases after disasters

Until approximately 1850 and the onset of the era of science, administrators of the day were well aware of the triad of famines, epidemics and social disruption, and their consideration of the major causes of disaster was focused on famine and epidemics of quarantinable diseases. With improved sanitary conditions and the documentation of natural catastrophe beyond Europe and North America, brought about by more rapid communication and transportation, interest in natural disaster gradually grew.

In industrialized societies today, advances in economic conditions and in public health have virtually eliminated the problem of communicable diseases as disasters. In developing countries, however, communicable diseases continue to cause primary disasters. This is frequently true of such diseases as measles, poliomyelitis, malaria, typhoid fever, and arthropod-borne viruses such as dengue and yellow fever. When this occurs, national authorities usually seek assistance from agencies where there is expertise with communicable disease control, such as the Pan American Health Organization or the Centers for Disease Control, rather than from disaster relief agencies.

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