What is used to separate well persons who may have been exposed to a communicable disease to see if they become ill?

• A. Quarantine
• B. Isolation
• C. Surveillance
• D. Vaccination

Answer: (A)

Separating people who may have been exposed to a contagious disease but are not yet ill is quarantine. This approach keeps those potentially incubating the illness apart from others so that if symptoms develop, transmission can be limited and monitoring can occur during the incubation period. It’s different from isolation, which is used for individuals who are already ill or confirmed to be infected and aims to prevent them from spreading the disease. Surveillance is the ongoing tracking of disease occurrence and trends to detect outbreaks and inform actions. Vaccination is a preventive measure to build immunity and reduce the risk of disease, but it doesn’t describe the act of separating exposed individuals for monitoring. For example, someone exposed to measles would be kept in quarantine to watch for the characteristic rash and symptoms, rather than being treated as though they are already sick.