IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jorssa/v164y2001i1p13-22.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investigating disease clusters: why, when and how?

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Wartenberg

Abstract

The investigation of disease clusters, aggregations of a few to several cases of disease, remains a controversial issue in epidemiology and public health. Reported at the rate of more than three per day nationally, a response commands substantial resources. This paper considers whether scientists or public health officials should investigate disease clusters, when they should, and, if so, how. Part of the disparity in opinions arises from differing goals: trying to identify new carcinogens versus identifying situations in which people are at risk. There are also differences in investigation strategies: passive versus active. This paper suggests that a more active surveillance programme with occasional investigation may best meet the needs of the public while accommodating the limited resources of public health officials and some of the concerns of epidemiologists.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Wartenberg, 2001. "Investigating disease clusters: why, when and how?," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 164(1), pages 13-22.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jorssa:v:164:y:2001:i:1:p:13-22
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-985X.00181
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-985X.00181
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-985X.00181?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jorssa:v:164:y:2001:i:1:p:13-22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rssssea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.