What is an index case?

In epidemiology, the case is the first documented case of the disease. When studying an epidemic, the identification of the index case can provide very important traces of the origin of the focus, how it spreads and whether there is a natural tank of disease that could cause future epidemic. As a result, epidemiologists create complex "family trees" to look at the ways of spreading an epidemic when looking for an index case.

Some people refer to the case of the index as "patient zero", and sometimes epidemiologists use this slang term, especially if they want to protect the identification of the index case. In some outbreaks of diseases, the index case was the subject of intense interest where people accuse individuals of the focus. This characterization of the index cases is somewhat unfair, because anyone may have potentially become an index case, and often suffering zero was simply in a bad place at the wrong time.

The case of the index may be an outbreak of a completely new diseaseas was the case with Mabalo Local to be the first known person to die of Ebola, or the index case may be the first person involved in an epidemic of already known illness; Typhoid Mary is a famous example of such an index case. In both cases, these people were the starting point of the epidemic, and as soon as the epidemic was traced back to these individuals, people could learn a lot about how the epidemic developed and spread.

Ideally, epidemiologists like to identify the case of the index as soon as possible. Once the identity of the index case is known, scientists can travel to the region where they live to study conditions there, in the hope of learning more about how the epidemic has evolved. While epidemiologists take samples from a patient with an index to study the structure of the disease and onibude also look at living conditions, local wildlife and regional customs that combine pieces of puzzles together. If possible, the index patient is asked to keep scientists to monitor theirmovements and activities while being infected with disease.

At a time when the index case is identified, it is common to have large pieces of pedigree of the epidemic in your hand. These pieces can be used to monitor the path of the disease and to learn more about other steps that should be made. For example, in the outbreaks of diseases caused by a tainted food, interconnecting the facts about the case of the index and other victims may be able to find out what they had in common, allowing them to zero, such as a dose of poorly manipulated meat or contaminated products.