index case

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Related to index case: index patient, primary case

index case

1. The earliest identified occurrence of a disease or disorder, usually as part of an epidemiological investigation of a patient population or a genetic study of a family.

2. The first patient who has such a disease or disorder. Also called proband, propositus.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

index case

(Medicine) med the first case of a disease, or the primary case referred to in a report

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Noun

index case - the earliest documented case of a disease that is included in an epidemiological study

epidemiology - the branch of medical science dealing with the transmission and control of disease

patient - a person who requires medical care; "the number of emergency patients has grown rapidly"

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References in periodicals archive ?

'The index case was a seven-year-old child who took ill on July 2, 2019, with similar symptoms of fever and yellowness of the eyes but was referred to the General Hospital, Iboko.

No Cause For Alarm On Yellow Fever Outbreak a Ebonyi Assures Residents

Three of the five females were probably secondary ones exposed to the index case who reported a history of direct contact with camels.

MERS VICTIMS IN OMAN CAME IN CONTACT WITH CAMELS: STUDY

At the time of re-hospitalisation the index case's twin was asymptomatic.

Tuberculosis transmission in a hospitalised neonate: Need for optimised tuberculosis screening of pregnant and postpartum women

We defined the index case as the first chikungunya patient reported by the NDSS within this region.

Spatial Dynamics of Chikungunya Virus, Venezuela, 2014

The index case was brought to emergency with bilateral painful lower limbs.

Myositis as the first presentation of acute brucellosis--A case report

On the one side, the authors described that the patient experienced 'recurrent episodes of loss of consciousness (in the absence of seizures).' In the next sentence, they state that 'the duration of these episodes was about 1 min while the seizure frequency was around 5-6 times per year.' These statements are contradictory and it remains unclear when the first seizures truly occurred in the index case. What do the authors mean with 'in the absence of seizures?' According to the case description, it is conceivable that the onset of seizures was at the age 8 years, but this issue requires further specification.

Mitochondrial tRNA Glutamic Acid Variant 14709T>C Manifesting as Myoclonic Epilepsy with Ragged Red Fibers

Vytiaco explained that the government was not able to establish the index case, or the very first farm affected by AI, due to non-reporting by farmers.

Bird flu ground zero could have been Candaba, says FAO study

The researchers investigated the cluster, which comprised the family of the index case (mother, father, three siblings).

Evidence Exists for Persistence, Transmission of Ebola Virus; Outbreak report describes transmission of Ebola virus one year after survival of Ebola virus disease

Eligible child contacts were aged below 5 years old and shared the same household with a selected index case within 3 months prior to the diagnosis of the latter.

Assessment of the Isoniazid Preventive Therapy Uptake and Associated Characteristics: A Cross-Sectional Study

(7) Unrecognized seropositive individuals may include family members of the index case, who share the same source of brucellosis and similar genetic and environmental risk factors for the disease.

Unrecognized pediatric and adult family members of children with acute brucellosis

Here, we present a family in which MEN2A was detected in the index case and two brothers had detected pheochromocytoma and medullary thyroid cancer.

MEN 2A Family

An association of these younger patients with rickets, Down's syndrome, or a familial type of myelofibrosis has often been reported.1 The index case is interesting as it was found in a 6-year old and there was no underlying cause.