This course examines infectious diseases through biological, epidemiological, social, cultural, economic, ethical, and political perspectives. Students analyze how infectious diseases emerge, spread, and affect individuals and populations; evaluate evidence and competing approaches; and examine human and global factors that shape prevention, treatment, and public health responses.
Athena Title
People, Parasites, and Plagues
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in IDIS 3100H, CBIO 3100H
Prerequisite
BIOL 1103 or BIOL 1103E or BIOL 1107 or BIOL 1107E
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
Students will analyze infectious diseases as global issues by integrating scientific knowledge with historical, cultural, social, economic, geographic, and political perspectives to explain problems that transcend national borders; assessed through critical reflective assignment, in-class reflections/discussions, selected unit examinations, podcast assignment, and/or final written essay.
Students will evaluate interactions between human activities and environmental conditions—including living conditions, sanitation, population density, human movement, human behavior, and access to resources and health care—that influence infectious disease exposure, transmission, prevention, and outcomes; assessed through critical reflective assignment, in-class reflections/discussions, selected unit examinations, podcast assignment, and/or final written essay.
Students will explain how ethical, cultural, economic, and political forces influence infectious disease prevention, treatment, public health responses, and policies affecting human populations; assessed through critical reflective assignment, in-class reflections/discussions, selected unit examinations, podcast assignment, and/or final written essay.
Students will evaluate the credibility, relevance, limitations, and assumptions of scientific and other evidence used to explain the causes, transmission, treatment, prevention, and consequences of infectious diseases; assessed through critical reflective assignment, in-class reflections/discussions, selected unit examinations, podcast assignment, and/or final written essay.
Students will compare competing explanations or approaches to infectious disease problems and construct evidence-based conclusions that consider scientific evidence and relevant social, cultural, economic, ethical, and political perspectives; assessed through critical reflective assignment, in-class reflections/discussions, selected unit examinations, podcast assignment, and/or final written essay.
Students will analyze complex infectious disease problems by identifying their component factors, examining relationships among those factors, recognizing patterns in disease cases and epidemiological information, and synthesizing information from multiple sources; assessed through critical reflective assignment, in-class reflections/discussions, selected unit examinations, podcast assignment, and/or final written essay.
Students will analyze how infectious diseases and responses to them affect individuals, communities, and populations differently, including differences associated with social structures, cultural practices, access to resources, and economic circumstances; assessed through critical reflective assignment, in-class reflections/discussions, selected unit examinations, podcast assignment, and/or final written essay.
Students will evaluate individual and collective responsibilities for addressing infectious disease problems by analyzing how human behaviors and social structures affect communities and populations; assessed through critical reflective assignment, in-class reflections/discussions, selected unit examinations, podcast assignment, and/or final written essay.
Topical Outline
1. Introduction to Infectious Diseases
2. Pathogen Biology
3. Immunology
4. Co-evolution and Antimicrobial Resistance
5. Epidemiology and the Cycle of Infection
6. Eukaryotic Infectious Diseases
7. Bacterial Infectious Diseases
8. Viral Infectious Diseases
9. Zoonotic and Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases
10. Social Determinants and Human-Environment Connections
11. Ethical, Cultural, Economic, and Political Dimensions of Infectious Diseases
12. Global Infectious Disease Challenges and Responses
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
Social Awareness & Responsibility
The capacity to understand the interdependence of people, communities, and self in a global society.
