What's the difference between epidemiology and etiology?

"Etiology", also written "aetiology" or "ætiology" is the study of the cause or origin of the illness. So the etiologic agent for the disease called bubonic plague is the plague bacillus (Yersina pestis). read more

Epidemiology is the study of both the distribution of disease (who has it, where, and when), as well as its causes (etiology). Some epidemiologists exclusively study disease distributions while others exclusively try to pin down causal associations with the disease, but generally the training includes both types of work. read more

Epidemiology and etiology are terms used in medical parlance. One usually encounters case studies that start with, “Epidemiology and etiology of X disease.” The way the title is constructed gives one the impression that epidemiology and etiology are different from one another. read more