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Article: Epidemiologic Transition
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Public Health
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EPIDEMIOLOGIC TRANSITION
Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events. It has traditionally been associated with the study of external agents of disease (microbial infectious agents). Events such as the Black Death, which killed about one-third of the population of Europe during the Middle Ages, have left their trace in the collective unconscious and are still largely perceived as being caused by external environmental agents. Progress in medical science, however, has changed the perceptions of epidemiology as new patterns of illness and disease are confronted.
The first transition in epidemiology occurred over a period of about one ...