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The 10 Steps of Outbreak Investigation
1.Prepare for field work
2.Establish the existence of an outbreak
3.Verify the diagnosis
4.Define & identify cases
5.Perform descriptive epidemiology
6.Develop hypotheses
7.Perform analytic epidemiology
8.Refine hypotheses & conduct additional studies
9.Implement control & prevention measures
10.Communicate findings
Speaking Points

This slide lists the steps of investigating an outbreak. Although you will not be doing this yourself, it is important to have a basic understanding of the steps in order to cooperate with the epidemiologists during this process. The 10 steps are:

1. Prepare for field work
2. Establish the existence of an outbreak
3. Verify the diagnosis
4. Define and identify cases
5. Perform descriptive epidemiology
6. Develop hypotheses
7. Perform analytic epidemiology
8. Refine hypotheses and carry out additional studies
9. Implement control and prevention measures
10. Communicate findings

•Each step will be discussed in detail on the upcoming slides. Note that the steps are not fixed in order. In some situations, control measures can and should be implemented immediately. Verification of the diagnosis may come at the same time as verification of an epidemic, or laboratory confirmation may come weeks after the investigation is over. Risk communication to the public should occur as soon as there is information available.

References
•EXCITE=Excellence in Curriculum Integration through Teaching Epidemiology [homepage on the Internet]. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; c2002 [cited 2004 April 29]. Steps of an Outbreak Investigation. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/excite/classroom/outbreak_steps.htm