Cluster (epidemiology) in the context of "Anecdotal evidence"

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⭐ Core Definition: Cluster (epidemiology)

A disease cluster is an unusually large aggregation of a relatively uncommon disease (medical condition) or event within a particular geographical location or period. Recognition of a cluster depends on its size being greater than would be expected by chance. Identification of a suspected disease cluster may initially depend on anecdotal evidence. Epidemiologists and biostatisticians then assess whether the suspected cluster corresponds to an actual increase of disease in the area. Typically, when clusters are recognized, they are reported to public health departments in the local area. If clusters are of sufficient size and importance, they may be re-evaluated as outbreaks.

John Snow's pioneering investigation of the 1854 cholera outbreak in Soho, London, is seen as a classic example of the study of such a cluster.

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Cluster (epidemiology) in the context of Human geography

Human geography, also known as anthropogeography, is a branch of geography that studies how people interact with places. It focuses on the spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, people, lifestyle and their environments. Examples include patterns like urban sprawl and urban redevelopment. It looks at how social interactions connect with the environment using both qualitative (descriptive) and quantitative (numerical) methods. This multidisciplinary field draws from sociology, anthropology, economics, and environmental science, helping build a more complete understanding of how human activity shapes the spaces we live in.

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Cluster (epidemiology) in the context of Geospatial analysis

Spatial analysis is any of the formal techniques which study entities using their topological, geometric, or geographic properties, primarily used in urban design. Spatial analysis includes a variety of techniques using different analytic approaches, especially spatial statistics. It may be applied in fields as diverse as astronomy, with its studies of the placement of galaxies in the cosmos, or to chip fabrication engineering, with its use of "place and route" algorithms to build complex wiring structures. In a more restricted sense, spatial analysis is geospatial analysis, the technique applied to structures at the human scale, most notably in the analysis of geographic data. It may also applied to genomics, as in transcriptomics data, but is primarily for spatial data.

Complex issues arise in spatial analysis, many of which are neither clearly defined nor completely resolved, but form the basis for current research. The most fundamental of these is the problem of defining the spatial location of the entities being studied. Classification of the techniques of spatial analysis is difficult because of the large number of different fields of research involved, the different fundamental approaches which can be chosen, and the many forms the data can take.

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