Dr. Robert Hall

3 credits

Emerging infectious diseases can arise when changes in human behavior open new routes of disease transmission, or when microbes that are adapted for other hosts or environments acquire an ability to infect humans. The ecology of Earth has been dramatically impacted by the intense economic and social activities of a burgeoning human population.This course will survey a wide range of human pathogens and relate their emergence to environmental, human, and microbiological factors. Specific organisms will be studied in depth to illustrate microbial threats as well as epidemiological investigations, pathogenicity research, vaccine development, and other strategies deployed to control disease emergence and spread. Finally, the principles covered in the class will be applied to a discussion of socioeconomic vulnerabilities to several infectious agents that may emerge, including in the biowarfare scenario.