Ecology of Infectious Diseases

Catalog description

This course will take an ecological approach to the study and control of infectious diseases. The course examines the dynamics of disease, how parasites (worms, bacteria and viruses) spread through a host population, the consequences for the hosts and the consequences for the parasite from both an ecological and evolutionary viewpoint. Ecological insights will be used to discuss and identify effective means of controlling the parasites. Students will learn how to develop basic mathematical models to describe the dynamics of a parasitic infection and discuss how these models can be applied to make predictions and optimize control-strategies for infections. This will be illustrated with numerous work examples of human, veterinary and wildlife diseases. Students will also examine the role of parasites in the ecosystem and how environmental changes affect parasite transmission. At the finer level the course will investigate how host-parasite interactions and multi-parasite species infections are modulated by host features (e.g. age, sex, immunity) and what may cause rapid changes in infectiousness and transmission. The course will touch on a range of current issues that include pandemic outbreaks, emerging infectious diseases and the role of parasites in ecosystem functioning. The ecological approach involves applying the principles of population biology to understand infectious diseases and develop new perspectives on epidemiology, thus the title "Ecology of Infectious Diseases". This course is designed for ecology, biology and animal science majors to obtain insights into the ecology of parasitism, and for pre-meds to provide biological foundation to the study of epidemiology.