Environmental Health & Human Health

Catalog description

The health of any individual is a function of both our genetics and environmental factors. Environmental factors most broadly defined include the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. This course will focus on numerous examples of how bacteria, viruses, and exposure to environmental chemicals result in human diseases. Examples range from failures in public health infrastructure (cholera, diphtheria, river blindness, etc), failures to vaccinate (polio, measles, hepatitis, etc) and chemical exposures (birth defects, cancer, etc). There is also much known about how diet and nutrition can prevent diseases.