Not so long ago, it was almost certain that you would die of an infectious disease. If you had been born just 150 years ago, your chances of dying from an infectious disease before the age of 5 would have been extremely high.
Since then, science has made great strides in understanding infectious diseases - what they are, how they spread and how they can be prevented. But diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and influenza continue to kill around the world, and new emerging diseases pose a constant threat to public health. What's more, microbes are evolving. Antibiotics, our most powerful weapon against bacterial infections, are losing their effectiveness as bacteria become resistant. In this course, we will explore the main themes of infectious disease dynamics.
After covering the basics, we'll look at the dynamics of influenza and why we worry about flu pandemics. We'll look at the dynamics of childhood diseases such as measles and whooping cough, which were once considered virtually eradicated but are now making a comeback. We'll explore malaria and use it as a case study in the evolution of drug resistance. We'll even look at social networks - how diseases can spread from you to your friends, to your friends' friends, and so on.
And, of course, we'll be talking about vaccination. We'll also talk about how cell phones, social media and crowdsourcing are revolutionizing disease surveillance, giving rise to a new field, digital epidemiology. And yes, we'll be talking about zombies - not human zombies, but zombie ants whose brains are hijacked by an infectious fungus.
We look forward to welcoming you to an exciting course!