Pandemic Flu: A Scottish framework for responding to an influenza pandemic

15 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Antiviral medicine
Type of medicine used to treat influenza

Attack rate
Cumulative incidence rate of people infected observed for limited periods under special circumstances, such as during an epidemic

Asymptomatic
Infected but no symptoms

Case fatality rate
Proportion of individuals contracting a disease who die from it

Clinical attack rate
The cumulative incidence rate of people showing symptoms

Containment
Measures to limit the spread of infection and restrict an outbreak to the affected area(s)

Countermeasures
Measures to counter the effect of the illness/infection

Epidemic
A disease attacking or affecting many individuals in a community or a population simultaneously

Epidemiology
The study of the patterns, causes and control of disease in groups of people

Epidemiological Models
Consideration of how the disease will spread and the effectiveness of countermeasures

Exit/entry Screening
Surveillance to detect individuals who develop signs of illness (influenza) whilst exiting or entering the country

Hand hygiene
Hand washing with soap and water to remove dirt and germs or use of alcohol based products containing an emollient that do not require the use of water

Infectivity
The potential for a given micro-organism to cause an infection i.e. the ability of the organism to enter, survive and multiply in people/ the proportion of exposures to infection that result in disease

Isolation
Separation of individuals infected with a communicable disease from those who are not in order to prevent further spread

Modelling (risk)
Mapping out a range of possible risks to suggest which responses are robust over the range of uncertainty

'Operational' models
The mechanics of how countermeasures can be implemented

Outbreak
Sudden appearance, or increase, of a disease in a specific geographic area or population. An epidemic limited to localised increase in the incidence of disease, e.g. in a village, town, or closed institution; a cluster of cases of an infectious disease

Pandemic
A worldwide epidemic when a new or novel strain of influenza virus emerges to which people have little or no immunity, which develops the ability to infect and be passed between humans

Pathogenic
The ability to cause disease

Prophylaxis
Prevention of disease or of a process that can lead to disease. With respect to pandemic influenza this specifically refers to the administration of antiviral or other medicines or vaccines to healthy individuals to prevent influenza

Quarantine
Separation of those who have been exposed to a communicable infection but are not yet ill from others who have not been exposed to the infection in order to prevent further spread

Re-assortment
The fragmentation and reassembly of the genetic material of two similar viruses infecting the same cell to produce a new virus strain

Respirator
A face mask incorporating a filter. In this document it implies a particulate respirator, usually of a disposable type and often used in hospital to protect against inhaling infectious agents. Particulate respirators are 'air-purifying respirators' because they clean particles out of the air as one breathes

Segregation
Separation from others (in this case influenza cases from non influenza cases)

Social distancing
Infection control strategies that reduce the duration and/or the intimacy of social contacts and thereby limit the transmission of influenza

Surge capacity
The ability to expand provision beyond normal capacity to meet transient increases in demand, e.g. to provide care or services above usual capacity, or to expand manufacturing capacity to meet increased demand

Surgical mask
Disposable face masks that provide a physical barrier but no filtration

Surveillance
Close and continuous observation or testing. Monitoring health and disease in a population by collecting and using health data

Symptomatic
Showing symptoms/indications of disease or illness

Transmission
Process of the spread of a disease through a population.

Treatment course
A course of medicines prescribed as treatment (not prophylaxis) for a person infected

Viraemia
Refers to the existence of viruses or viral particles in the bloodstream

Virulence
The ability of a micro-organism to cause disease

Wave
The period during which an outbreak or epidemic occurs either within a community or aggregated across a larger geographical area. The disease wave includes the time during which the disease occurrence increase rapidly, peaks, and declines back towards baseline.