Pandemics and Global Epidemics

Catalog description

This online summer-session course will provide an intensive introductory-level learning experience on several important pandemics and global epidemics throughout history. The course will begin by covering the basic biology of infectious diseases; the different ways infectious diseases can spread throughout populations; what makes an infectious agent successful; and how changes in population structure and rapid advancements in population movement impact infectious diseases. We will then review important pandemics and global epidemics throughout time, including the 1350 bubonic plague, 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, HIV/AIDS global epidemic, and the coronavirus outbreaks. We will examine the basic characteristics of each of these diseases, how they are believed to have spread to humans, how they spread globally, what prevention and control measures were implemented, and what was learned. The course will conclude with a discussion of the concept of “pandemic preparedness.”