school of allied health and life sciences

WELCOME MESSAGE:
Welcome to the Land of Disease!
Please read before or during the first week of class.

COURSE NUMBER:

MCB4276 and MCB5273

COURSE TITLE:

Epidemiology of Infectious Disease

COURSE OVERVIEW:

This course is a fully online course. Additional information on this structure is provided in the welcome message above.

This course is also part of the Master of Public Health degree program and counts as a technical elective in this program.

INSTRUCTORS:







George L. Stewart, Ph.D.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

gstewart@uwf.edu or (850) 473-7226

PREREQUISITES OR COREQUISITES:

Those interested in this course or the Master of Public Health Program should contact Mr. Steve Celestial at (850) 474-2885 or scelestial@uwf.edu.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The basic principles of epidemiology as they apply to infectious disease and the impact of infectious disease on human civilization will be addressed. The causes and distribution of current epidemics of infectious disease, including newly emerging and reemerging diseases, and the approaches being applied to defeat these diseases will be discussed. Offered concurrently with MCB 5273; graduate students will be assigned additional work.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES (Objectives):

This course meets the following programmatic goals for the B.S. Biology and MPH degree programs:
• Content and Critical Thinking:
  • Students will be expected to apply the basic principles of epidemiology and demonstrate an understanding of the rules governing the occurrence of epidemics of infectious diseases.
• Communication:
  • Students will be able to describe the contemporary and future importance of infectious diseases on a global scale and the role played by environmental destruction and overpopulation on the success and spread of infectious diseases.
  • Students will be able to discuss the most important infectious diseases affecting man, and of the microbial, host and environmental factors that contribute to such epidemics.

  Fulfillment of these goals will be assessed as described below, in quizzes and assignments in which students will demonstrate their ability to apply the principles of infectious disease epidemiology and the rules governing the occurrence of epidemics of infectious disease. For the purposes of programmatic assessment, the following mastery levels will be used:

  Characteristics of Submitted Student Work and Assignments

  SKILL MASTERY LEVEL	CONTENT AND CRITICAL THINKING	COMMUNICATION
  Very Good-Excellent	Student consistently shows clarity of understanding of, and an ability to apply, the principles of infectious disease epidemiology and the rules governing the occurrence of outbreaks of infectious disease.	Student shows clear expression of ideas in writing with proper spelling and grammar and an ability to integrate their ideas into the literature on infectious disease epidemiology.
  Satisfactory	Student demonstrates a basic level of understanding of, and ability to apply, the principles of infectious disease epidemiology and the rules governing the occurrence of outbreaks of infectious disease.	Student demonstrates only adequate implementation of above Very Good-Excellent characteristics.
  Unsatisfactory	Student has a critical inability to grasp and apply the principles of infectious disease epidemiology and the rules governing the occurrence of outbreaks of infectious disease.	Student maintains a lack of adherence to technical writing style and skills, uses improper grammar and spelling, and has an inability to clearly express ideas in writing and to integrate those ideas into the literature on infectious disease epidemiology.

TOPICS COVERED:

Overview
The first half of this course will deal with an introduction to epidemiology of infectious disease. This group of lectures is designed to provide some history of the impact of infectious diseases on human civilization and to introduce you to the basic principles of epidemiology as they apply to infectious diseases. Approximately, the second half of the course will cover the epidemiology of specific infectious diseases, with emphasis on current epidemics. The latest epidemics occurring around the world will be studied within a set of "outbreak assignments".  Instructions for accessing these assignments and associated reports on current outbreaks and the specific disease targeted will be provided within the modules. Material from these case studies will be included in exams and/or exercises. In addition to the exams and the "outbreak assignments" you will be provided with a set of "disease detective" exercises in which an outbreak scenario will be provided and you will answer the questions posed about the causative agent and the epidemic (see below for grading).

Tentative Schedule


• Introduction to Epidemiology of Infectious Disease
• The Historical Foundations of Epidemiology
• Agents of Illness
• Host Factors and Their Influence on Disease
• Environmental Factors and Their Influence on Disease
• The Measurement of Disease and Death
• Epidemiologic Methodology

The remainder of the course will deal with currently significant epidemic infectious diseases and the application of the "rules" of infectious disease epidemiology to current disease outbreaks.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

There is no required text for this course.

SPECIAL TECHNOLOGY UTILIZED BY STUDENTS: 

             Email, elearning and web surfing.


REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY:

N/A

GRADING/EVALUATION:

There will be four non-cumulative exams consisting of 20 multiple choice/true-false questions and 10 short answer (3 or 4 sentences) questions. You will be allowed to drop one of these exams.  If you miss an exam, that is your drop. There are NO MAKEUP exams given in this course. Each exam will count 20% of your course grade (total for the 3 exams = 60% of course grade). "Outbreak assignments" will be provided in modules in which four infectious disease outbreaks will be listed with a URL for each, followed by sites where you will read additional information about the disease in question. Information from these "outbreak assignments" will be covered either in exams or in the exercises.  You will be given 4 "disease detective" exercises during the semester. These are scenarios describing disease outbreaks which you will research using the Web to diagnose the diseases in question and provide answers to the questions posed. For these exercises, you may use any resource available to you on the Web to answer the questions but YOU must answer those questions without input from your classmates. Each exercise will count 15% of your course grade (total for the 4 "disease detective" exercises = 40% of course grade). There is no final exam in this course. Thus, your final grade in this course will be the average of your 3 best test scores out of the 4 possible exams plus the average of your scores on the 4 exercises. A=90-100, B=80-89, C=70-79, D=60-69 and F=59 or less. All exams and exercises will be curved. For exams, you will not use any materials other than your personal knowledge to answer the questions.  Any alternative method of answering these questions is inappropriate and your grade in the course will be affected.  

Class attendance: In view of the fact that MOST questions on ALL exams come from the online materials and notes, which also includes discussion of current global infectious disease outbreaks, it is unlikely that you will pass this course if you don't regularly login to the course.

Graduate Students: A graduate student enrolled in this course for credit will be given a set of review articles on infectious diseases which will be covered by a separate exam attached to the 3rd exam in the course in which several essay questions relating to these articles will be answered.  The student's grade on this separate section of the exam will be averaged in with the score they achieve on the main body of exam #3.

EXPECTATIONS FOR ACADEMIC CONDUCT/PLAGIARISM POLICY:

• Academic Conduct Policy [Web format | PDF format | rtf format]
• Plagiarism Policy [Word format | PDF format | rtf format]
• Student Handbook [PDF format]

  It is the philosophy of The University of West Florida that academic dishonesty is a completely unacceptable mode of conduct and will not be tolerated in any form. All persons involved in academic dishonesty will be disciplined in accordance with University regulations and procedures. Discipline may include suspension or expulsion from the University. Scholastic dishonesty includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any work or materials that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an examination for another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or the attempt to commit such acts.

  In addition, any behavior that interferes with the conduct of a class is classified as disruptive behavior and will not be tolerated. Although not exhaustive, examples of disruptive behavior would include: routinely participating in online class discussions late or not at all without specific permission from the instructor; inappropriate postings; threatening faculty or fellow students or electronic abuse of faculty or fellow students; electronic displays of anger; etc.

ASSISTANCE:

Students with special needs who require specific examination-related or other course-related accommodations should contact Disabled Student Services (DSS), dss@uwf.edu, (850) 474-2387. DSS will provide the student with a letter for the instructor that will specify any recommended accommodations.

Every effort will be made to accommodate the special needs of disabled students. Please see the instructor in the privacy of his office during the first week of class to inform him of your particular needs. All such accommodations are officially arranged through the Office for Disabled Student Services and a letter from this office must accompany your request.