[Discussion on the problems of general epidemiology]

The key problems of general epidemiology: the subject, method, causality in the epidemic process, the main categories and laws, the systematization of infectious pathology and epidemiological terminology are under discussion. It is at this stage when students should form valid notions, well grounded on scientific facts and practical experience, concerning the epidemiology of noninfectious diseases with due regard to the existing differences in the interpretation of the causes of the epidemic process in noninfectious diseases and to the characteristic distribution of noninfectious diseases among the population under the influence of environmental factors without any participation of parasitic systems. The review of the notion apparatus of the theoretical epidemiology and putting it in order in accordance with general biological concepts are proposed in connection with the necessity of differentiation between the epidemic process proper (in cases of anthroponosis) and the epidemic manifestations of epizoonotic and epiphytotic processes (in cases of zoonoses and sapronoses).