Disease-specific toolboxes
Each toolbox includes up to date resources needed to conduct a thorough outbreak investigation on a range of diseases and hazards.
Outbreak Toolkit
Providing the tools to investigate disease outbreaks, collect data and guide response activities
Overview
The Outbreak Toolkit is specifically designed for epidemiologists and field investigators operating at the frontline of complex emergencies and in resource-limited settings. It provides a comprehensive, up-to-date toolkit for investigating both infectious disease outbreaks and non-infectious events and hazards. By offering standardized tools, the Toolkit addresses the critical need for data consistency and facilitates effective data sharing across teams, locations, and timeframes. It serves as an essential asset for public health professionals confronting the unique challenges of outbreak response in demanding environments.
This online resource, specially crafted for complex emergencies and limited resource settings, offers epidemiologists and field investigators a wide range of up-to-date, comprehensive tools for investigating outbreaks of infectious and non infectious diseases and hazards. It serves as a valuable asset in addressing public health challenges in challenging environments.
A good investigation responds to the questions:
Why is this population affected here and now by this disease? Who may be at risk? What has changed?
WHO
- What is the age, sex, gender of cases?
- What are the norms and values or cases?
- What are the attitudes and behaviors that may have driven the spread of the disease?
WHAT
- What are the signs and symptoms?
- What is the differential diagnosis?
- What is the causative agent?
WHERE
- Where do the affected individuals come from?
- What is their geographical distribution?
- What are potential points of exposure/ contamination (e.g. environment, workplace)?
- What diseases are known to occur in this location?
WHEN
- When was the first case reported?
- When did the first symptoms occur for each reported case?
- When did the potential exposure occur?
- What is the incubation period?
HOW
- How is the causative agent spreading?
- How is the causative agent affecting this population?
- What is/are the models of transmission?
Forms and One health resources to investigate diseases
The toolkit includes guidance, tools, resources and links to critical technical documents, generic or grouped by suspected exposure or syndromes.
Stages of an outbreak investigation
Understand the systematic approach to investigating an outbreak.
New to the Outbreak toolkit
The following items have been added in the last month:
Update of the T0 (Time Zero Initial CIF) XLS form
- The TO XLS questionnaire, previously available only in English and French, is now also available in Arabic and Spanish. This update expands accessibility for a broader range of users and supports more inclusive global use.
The Outbreak Toolkit offers a web-accessible deployment package for field investigators.
Contact
The team welcomes your feedback. Please contact us by email: [email protected]