Cluster (epidemiology)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the infectious disease epidemiology is a cluster ( German  metropolitan , accumulation ) or a cooker situation or short- cooker of a disease (such as cancer;. In this case it is called a cancer cluster ) an accumulation of individual unexpected or unusual disease cases ( incidence ) which are observed at a certain time in a certain place and for which no common cause has (yet) been confirmed. For diseases of particular concern, clusters must be carefully examined. If the accumulation of cases is related to an epidemic, then one speaks of an outbreak . With clusters, there is an increase in incidences of much less magnitude than with an outbreak or epidemic . If the cluster is a cluster of an infectious disease , one speaks of an infection cluster .

Evidence of the existence of a disease cluster

Potential disease clusters are often initially perceived as existing on the basis of anecdotal evidence . Epidemiologists and biostatisticians can then use statistical methods to prove whether a cluster really exists or not. The statistical instrument to check whether the number of cases exceeds the expected number or not (i.e. checking whether a cluster actually exists or not) is called cluster analysis .

Case clusters

A region with an acutely increased local incidence or prevalence is referred to as a case cluster .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Follow-up of contact persons in the event of respiratory diseases caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. In: Website of the Robert Koch Institute . March 18, 2020, accessed August 24, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Kiehl: Infection protection and infection epidemiology. Technical terms - definitions - interpretations. Ed .: Robert Koch Institute, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-89606-258-1 , p. 26, keyword cluster
  3. ↑ John M. Last: A Dictionary of Epidemiology. , 4th edition, 2001 International Epidemiological Association , Oxford UP 2001, p. 32.
  4. ^ Justin Lessler et al .: What is a hotspot anyway ?. In: The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene. (2017). Pages 1270-1273, here: p. 1271.