Field epidemiology in pandemic of COVID-19 in Cuba

Abstract

Field Epidemiology Day is celebrated on September 7, a date that commemorates the transcendental contribution of John Snow in 1854, when presenting the map that located the origin of the cholera epidemic for its subsequent control.(1) That historic event It constitutes a good pretext to recognize the performance of field epidemiologists, who silently contribute to the control of epidemics, as has happened with the current COVID-19 pandemic.

In a simple but illuminating criterion it is expressed: the field epidemiologist has the objective of preventing the transmission of a disease and controlling the outbreak that has broken the tranquility of a community (...). Obtaining information and action is carried out “in the field”, on the ground, that is, in the epidemic territory.(2)

The activities to be carried out in the event of any epidemic outbreak are systematized in such a way that it has become possible to implement rapid and effective measures to interrupt the chains of transmission and the management of risk situations.(3) The execution of these activities involves carrying out the 10 conventionally accepted steps and they are as follows: confirm the outbreak; organize field work; establish an operational definition of cases; carry out active case search; characterize the outbreak in time, space and person; generate hypotheses and adopt immediate control measures; evaluate the hypotheses by applying exploratory analysis methods; implement specific control measures; evaluate the control measures and prepare a technical field investigation report, as established by the Pan American Health Organization.(4) As an inviolable requirement to comply with each of these steps, there is the work of a team led by the epidemiologist. .