Question

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

• Epidemiology is defined as the study of diseases among populations. How does epidemiology relate to microbiology? What is the difference between an epidemiologist and a microbiologist? If you were an epidemiologist interviewing someone with an infectious disease that could lead to an epidemic, what are some questions you might ask?
• What is the most interesting area of microbiology you have studied in this course? Why is it most interesting to you? How will it be important to you in the future?

Answer 1

Q. How does epidemiology relate to microbiology?

The relation or intersections between epidemiology and microbiology, both the scientific field underlies public health importance. The epidemiology has to do deal directly with public health, that is determining patterns and sources and other aspects of health of populations. This can be related to microbiology in bacterial epidemics like tuberculosis or whooping cough outbreak increases in the various communities due to fewer people vaccinating their children, or determining the factors involved in the Ebola outbreaks in Africa for a given time, as well as working on plans on how to control the spread of the outbreak and prevent exposure. In an another term epidemiology looks at plenty of health aspects which are unrelated or indirectly related to microbiology like tracking trends in obesity, hypertension in the european or American continent and trying to determine factors which may increase or decrease risks of it within population subsets, or which subpopulations are most at risk, etc. Since understanding the transmission and exposure rate to microorganisms can help trace patterns of disease, predict risk, and find solutions to on-going infections both the scientific field help complementarily. Understanding beneficial microorganisms (e.g. probiotics) can also lead to improved health outcomes in people.

Q. What is the difference between an epidemiologist and a microbiologist?

Epidemiologist	Microbiologist
Epidemiologist critically looks at the determinants, occurrence, and distribution of health and disease	Microbiologist deals with the study of microscopic organisms, including viruses, fungi, parasites, and bacteria.
More precisely, epidemiologist dealing with the spread and control of diseases, viruses, concepts etc. throughout populations or systems.	More precisely, microbiologist deals with microorganisms, especially their effects on man and other living organisms.
Epidemiologists define disease occurrence in terms of agent, host and evironment etc.	Microbiologists define disease occurrence in terms of existence of pathology, virulence factors of microorganisms, and infectious disease caused by a microorganism etc.
Epidemiologists may specialized in planning and conducting experimental research projects in some kind of laboratory setting. Others may have a more administrative role, supervising and evaluating their results based on the data obtained from public health.	Microbiologists may got specialized in a given topic within microbiology such as bacteriology, parasitology, virology, or immunology.
Epidemiologists might help in study design, collection and statistical analysis of data, and interpretation and dissemination of results.	For a microbiologist typical work activities might include identifying microorganisms and tracking them in a range of environments, testing samples, developing new medicines, vaccines and other methods to prevent the spread of disease, as well as managing and overseeing laboratory work. Other roles may also include collecting samples from different types of environments, quality control in manufacturing, producing reports and advising external bodies.

Q. If you were an epidemiologist interviewing someone with an infectious disease that could lead to an epidemic, what are some questions you might ask?

How do this infectious disease change to cause an epidemic situation?
Where do epidemic infectious disease come from?
What happens when an epidemic infectious disease virus emerges?
Will vaccines protect against epidemic infectious disease?
Are there vaccines to protect against epidemic infectious disease?
If not, how long would it take to develop a new epidemic vaccine?
How many doses of epidemic vaccine would each person need?
What treatments are available for epidemic infectious disease?
Are there other ways to slow a epidemic infectious disease?
How would nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) be used during a epidemic?
How do you plan for the use of NPIs during an infectious disease epidemic?
Are there novel bacteria or viruses that are of extra concern in terms of their epidemic threat?