How can epidemiologists determine the cause of a disease?
In the history of our planet earth, there have been many epidemics that took a huge toll of human lives. To overcome the effects of such outbreaks, the authorities of various countries set a system that can help overcome the impact of epidemic and inform people about the coming epidemics. The professionals who are part of this system are known as epidemiologists. Usually, for common people, their role is not much known unless a pandemic hits, and the media make them a hero.
It is the job of epidemiologists to determine the cause of a disease that is often widespread among a large population with deadly symptoms. They use several methods to arrive at the cause of any disease and also draft a guideline. It begins with the collection of data from various sources regarding the disease. After carefully analyzing the behavior of the infection causing agent, they arrive at the cause of that infection. Usually, their study is concerned with epidemics that are widely spread among large populations. Certain infections, like Covid-19 disease, which is caused by coronavirus, are also monitored by epidemiologists around the world. Let us see the different processes used by epidemiologists in identifying the cause of any disease.
Primary focus on groups:
The primary focus of epidemiologists will be on groups of patients rather than individuals. In the case of coronavirus, they consider a community of infected people, their age group, their living environment, and other factors that might have contributed to the spread of infection. In this way, they will identify the behavior of the infection, causing agents on a group of people. Diseases like coronavirus have spread across various groups around the world. This has led to a lot of confusion among scientists as the virus is spreading at a rapid pace irrespective of geographical borders and other factors like age and race of people.
Study of an agent of infection:
The infection-causing agent can be a bacteria or a virus in most cases. In the Covid-19 situation, the agent of infection is the coronavirus that has emerged from bats. Epidemiologists study the agent, which is causing the infection so that they will be able to determine the treatment for the disease. They will also try to halt the spread of the disease by learning the behavior of the disease-causing agent. By analyzing such patterns, epidemiologists will be able to develop vaccines to prevent such infections in the future. Once they are able to fully understand the behavior of disease-causing agents, they can also develop a drug to treat the diseases caused by such viruses.
The environment in which disease occurs:
In most cases, environmental factors play a crucial role in the spread of any infection. Scientists study this factor while determining the cause of any disease. They try to identify weather conditions that are favorable for the spreading of infection. If they can pinpoint a particular pattern in this area, it can be classified as a seasonal disease that primarily occurs in a specific season. While some diseases are more prone to spread during summer seasons, some other diseases spread more during rainy seasons when the humidity is more in the environment.
Host or carrier of disease:
Most infections causing agents like bacteria and viruses need a host to get transmitted from one person to another in a community. For example, in the case of coronavirus, bats are the natural host of this virus. But, bats are not able to spread the infection to humans. Once the coronavirus has infected humans, they become carriers of this virus and spread it in the community. Identifying such factors help epidemiologists to determine the disease-causing agents.
Transmission of disease:
There are specific ways in which any disease gets transmitted from one person to another in a community. Say, for example, HIV gets transmitted through sexual contact with an infected person and other methods in which blood of the infected person gets in contact with another person. However, HIV is not airborne, and it cannot get transmitted from one person to another when they are sitting next to each other. But, in the case of diseases like coronavirus, the infection can transmit through the air when you are in close proximity to the infected person. Analyzing such transmission patterns help epidemiologists to identify the disease-causing agents.
By analyzing all the above mentioned factors, epidemiologists will be able to determine the cause of any disease. As they focus on spreading pandemics and epidemics among communities, they will be able to understand the broader picture of the entire disease. They maintain extensive data from different sources to clearly understand the nature of diseases. In this way, they contribute a lot to the development of vaccines and drugs for various diseases.