What is an Epi Curve?

An epi curve is a visual display of the onset of illness among cases associated with an outbreak.

You can learn a lot about an outbreak from an epi curve, such as

• The outbreak's time trend, that is, the distribution of cases over time
• Outliers, that is, cases that stand apart from the overall pattern
• General sense of the outbreak's magnitude
• Inferences about the outbreak's pattern of spread
• The most likely time period of exposure