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The Analysis of Disease Clusters, Part I: State of the Art

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

David Birnbaum ,
G.M. Jacquez ,
L.A. Waller ,
R. Grimson  and
D. Wartenberg
G.M. Jacquez*
Affiliation:
BioMedware, Ann Arbor, Michigan
L.A. Waller
Affiliation:
The University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
R. Grimson
Affiliation:
Department of Preventive Medicine, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York
D. Wartenberg
Affiliation:
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey
*
BioMedware, 516 N State St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
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Abstract

Public health professionals often are asked to investigate apparent clusters of human health events, or “disease clusters.” A cluster is an excess of cases in space (a geographic cluster), in time (a temporal cluster), or in both space and time. This is part I of an introductory-level review of the analysis of disease clusters for physicians and health professionals concerned with infection surveillance in hospitals. It reviews the status of the field with the hope of expanding the use of cluster analysis methods for the routine surveillance of infectious diseases in the hospital environment.

Type
Statistics for Hospital Epidemiology
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 17 , Issue 5 , May 1996 , pp. 319 - 327
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1996

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