A surveillance system detects a sudden cluster of gastroenteritis cases in a village all falling within a 72-hour window, with an epidemic curve showing a steep rise and fall. This pattern is most consistent with:

• A Propagated (person-to-person) epidemic
• B Common source, continuous exposure epidemic
• C Mixed epidemic
• D Point source (single exposure) epidemic ✓

Explanation

A point source epidemic results from simultaneous exposure of many people to a single source of infection or toxin, producing a steep unimodal epidemic curve with cases concentrated within one incubation period. A propagated epidemic shows multiple peaks corresponding to successive generations. Continuous common-source epidemics show a prolonged plateau.

Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

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