Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Communicable Disease Epidemiology, Prevention and Control

Course Description

The course is designed to build skills and knowledge in three areas:

(i) core concepts in infectious diseases (e.g., transmissibility, immunity, pandemics, epidemics);

(ii) substantive knowledge of diseases (pathogens, syndromes); and

(iii) skills (especially analytical skills) that you may need as a practicing epidemiologist in future.

Consequently, we will divide most sessions into three parts:

(i) a didactic lecture, where we’ll give a broad overview of the issue of interest;

(ii) interactive case studies, where we’ll work through real-world examples of the issue of interest, and

(iii) a hands-on analytic exercise where you’ll practice applying your epidemiological skills to real or simulated infectious disease data.

To further keep our course anchored in the real world, we’ll begin most sessions with a student-led discussion of a “hot” infectious disease issue identified using resources such as ProMED, HealthMap, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), Canadian Communicable Disease Report (CCDR), and Public Health Ontario (PHO) surveillance reports.

Course Objectives

• Students will develop a broad knowledge of pathogens and infectious disease syndromes of public health importance, their clinical presentations and microbiological characteristics, and basic approaches to their control.
• Students will understand core concepts necessary for the description and evaluation of major infectious disease processes, including the nature and definition of outbreaks, epidemics, pandemics, and endemic disease spread; incubation, latency, and carriage; reproductive numbers; immunity and vaccine effectiveness; and emerging infections, particularly those related to zoonotic threats and the “One Health” paradigm, among others.
• Students will develop a quantitative and analytic skill set related to the measurement and control of infectious diseases, including basic aspects of outbreak documentation and investigation (including case-control studies); principles of infectious disease surveillance (including analysis of rates and counts); understanding of laboratory aspects of infectious disease epidemiology including changing test technologies; and basic elements of transmission modeling of infectious diseases, among others.
• Students will gain familiarity with tools and resources used by public health professionals seeking to remain abreast of the rapidly changing world of infectious diseases.

Methods of Assessment

Description	Weight	Date Due
Completion and presentation of assignments	20%	assignment in each class throughout the course (total of 8)
Active participation	10%	throughout the course
Student-led seminars	35%	in-term 10%, end-of-term 25%
Final examination	35%	end-of-term