Course Details

Emerging infectious diseases (IDs) are infections that have recently appeared within a population or those whose incidence or geographic range is rapidly increasing or threatens to increase in the near future. Emerging infections can be caused by: Previously undetected or unknown infectious agents Known agents that have spread to new geographic locations or new populations Previously known agents whose role in specific diseases has previously gone unrecognized. Re-emergence of agents whose incidence of disease had significantly declined in the past, but whose incidence of the disease has reappeared. This class of diseases is known as re-emerging infectious diseases.

This course will focus on an overview of the basic principles of infectious diseases (IDs) focusing on emerging and re-emerging IDs that affect public health in the U.S. and worldwide.

Topics include:

*Scope and nature of the problem of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (IDs).
*Factors involved in the emergence and re-emergence of IDs.
*Basic biology and epidemiology of selected emerging and re-emerging ID agents (bacteria, viruses, prions, helminths, and eukaryotic protozoans).
*Public health, economic, and social impact of emerging and re-emerging IDs.
*Compare strains of Sars-Cov-2 and other coronaviruses (SARS & MERS) and analyze pathogenicity based on amino acid variations.
*Work in research teams and use bioinformatics to elucidate variations in nucleotides sequences (changes in parts of the genome) of viruses associated with increased pathogenicity/virulence. *Predict the pathogenicity of future mutations and/or viruses that have yet to jump species.
*Strategies for diagnosis, prevention, and control of emerging and re-emerging IDs.