The Outbreak Investigation course is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills required to undertake outbreak investigations in the field.

This course will be next offered in 2012.

By the end of the course students will be able to:

• Define the terms ‘cluster’, ‘outbreak’ and ‘epidemic, list the steps in the investigation of an outbreak and discuss the use of case definitions in outbreak investigations.
• Draw, interpret and describe the value of an epidemic curve.
• Describe the study types appropriate for outbreak investigations.
• Gain experience in working through several outbreak investigation case studies.
• Interpret investigation findings and summarise these in a report

In-class assessment 20%

Assignment 80%

Attendance and participation at a four day intensive program (approx 32 hours) plus additional time spent on pre-reading, self-directed study and completing the assessment requirements as per a 6-unit course load.

Permission from program convener required.

Assumed Knowledge:  Students enrolled in this course are required a completion of undergraduate degree and Masters level courses on Epidemiology and Biostatistics from a recognised School of Public Health (either in Australia or internationally), or completion of Fundamentals of Epidemiology and Fundamentals of Biostatistics short courses held at the ANU.

Recommended courses:

• POPH8313 Analysis of public health data
• POPH8317 Public Health surveillance
• POPH8315 Methods in Applied Epidemiological Research

Michael Gregg (ed). Field Epidemiology. 3^rd Edition. Oxford University Press, New York 2008. ISBN: 978-0-19-531380-2

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