Plagues: Past, Present and Future

Instructor:  Robert Grahn, Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine

Description: This seminar course will examine historic plagues as well as examine current global health issues and potential agents for future plagues.  In teams, students will be expected to lead one discussion each week regarding an assigned topic.  Each week students leading the discussion will be required to research a specific pathogen by reading primary literature with respect to the epidemiological characteristics of the disease.  They will also be expected to determine (through readings of historical accounts, internet searches, etc) political, religious and socio-economic factors that contribute(d) to the spread of the disease. Students should gain knowledge of the epidemiology of each disease as well as the political, social and religious aspects that contribute to the spread of each of these diseases.  Moreover, by evaluating the past and analyzing the present students should garner an appreciation of the potential for future plagues and the current practices/policies that could contribute to the spread of the epidemics.

Format: To prepare for each presentation, students will need to spend time outside the assigned class time researching the disease by reading historical accounts of the disease, the biology of the causative agent, the symptoms of the disease, prognosis and human statistics if possible.  The biology of the disease will be presented in a 20-minute oral presentation to start the class followed by discussion.  Additionally, each remaining student will be expected to bring at least one article on each topic each week.  This/these article(s) should be summarized in a 1- to 2-page report. A two to three sentence synopsis of each chosen article will be given prior to the oral presentation. Acceptable articles include but are not limited to historical, medical, newspaper, etc. as long they contribute to the discussion.  Grading: This is a 1-unit pass fail course.  Students will be expected to attend all classes, lead one discussion section following their oral presentations, bring one article to class each week and actively participate in all discussions. Oral presentations will constitute 25% of the grade, article summaries will constitute 40% and class participation constitutes the remaining 35% of the course grade.