QVE-30806 Management of Infections and Diseases in Animal Populations

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

QVE-20306 Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics and/or QVE-30306 Quantitative Veterinary Epidemiology.

Contents:

This course is focused on preventive management of infections and diseases. The behaviour of infectious diseases in animal populations depends on: the interaction between the individual host and the (infectious) agent, the interaction between hosts, i.e. transmission of the infectious disease agent, and the changes in the characteristics of the agent in response to control measures. All these aspects should be considered when studying the effectiveness of control measures and/or eradication programmes for zoonotic infections and infectious diseases. Focusing on reduction of disease (symptoms) in individual animals only is certainly not always the optimal strategy. Transmission can be quantified by the reproduction ratio. This can be done in experiments and in the field. Management of transmission is important in studying control measures in the veterinary field as well as in animal models meant for human medicine. Veterinary epidemiology is one of the basic sciences that contributes to management of disease, including monitoring and surveillance.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- demonstrate understanding of biology of transmission;
- be able to mention and to explain key factors that make a disease an important disease;
- mention and to explain key elements and steps in developing control and eradication programmes;
- design transmission experiments;
- do basic analyses and interpret the outcomes of transmission studies;
- evaluate literature relevant to transmission of infectious diseases.

Activities:

- plenary lectures;
- class assignments;
- take home assignments;
- PC-practicals.

Examination:

- written exam:
- open questions.

Literature:

Course guide and schedule are available on first lecture.