THE ROLE OF EPIDEMIOLOGY IN PUBLIC-HEALTH

Epidemiology is the study of disease in populations. Veterinarians and others involved in the preventive medicine and public health professi ons use epidemiological methods for disease surveillance, outbreak inv estigation, and observational studies to identify risk factors of zoon otic disease in both human and animal populations. Knowledge of these risk factors is used to direct further research investigation and to i mplement disease control measures. The use of hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) systems depends greatly on information produced by epidemiological studies. Epidemiological methods are used for dise ase surveillance to identify which hazards are the most important. Epi demiological studies are also used to identify risk factors which may represent critical control points in the food production system.