Epidemiology is the branch of medical science that deals with the transmission and control of disease. Epidemiology is the study of health events, health characteristics and health determinant patterns in a population. It is a cornerstone method of public health research and its major areas of work include outbreak investigation; disease surveillance and screening; biomonitoring; and comparisons of treatment effects such as in clinical trials.
Epidemiology is considered as basic science of public health. It
is study of health related events in population. It takes into
account the pattern & rate of risk of disease in the
population. So it is fundamental to the practice of public
health.