What minimum information is needed for a basic outbreak report?

• A. Time of onset, place, number of cases, case definition, link to exposure, line listing, person characteristics.
• B. Time of onset and place only.
• C. Only number of cases and case definition.
• D. Time to outbreak end and funding details.

Answer: (C)

The essential idea is to identify what information is truly necessary to register a basic outbreak report: you need to know who counts as a case and how many there are. Establishing a clear case definition is what makes the count meaningful, because it ensures consistency in who is included as a case. Once you have a defined group of cases, you can report the magnitude of the outbreak—the total number of people meeting that definition.

Other details, like the time of onset, where it occurred, connections to exposure, and even a full line listing, are extremely helpful for investigating and controlling the outbreak, but they aren’t required to produce a basic report. The time to outbreak end and funding details aren’t about identifying or quantifying the event, so they aren’t part of the minimum information needed.

So the minimum information needed to report a basic outbreak is the count of cases and the criteria used to define who is a case.