This Web site, created to complement the museum's Epidemic! exhibit, provides an in-depth look at the world of infectious disease. It includes the following sections: Environmental Change looks at how a season of heavy snow and rainfall led to an outbreak of hantavirus in the Four Corners region of the southwestern U.S., and at the different habitat needs of microbes. Long-Term Changes examines how changes to the prehistoric landscape and in our living patterns since the development of agriculture, have made diseases like malaria a major threat in tropical regions. Microbes and Others looks at the three major groups of microbes (viruses, bacteria, and protozoa) and the great variety within each group. Diagnostics and Testing examines how the link between microbes and disease was first made and the many medical advances since then. Infection covers how microbes enter the body and the body's built-in defense mechanisms. Outbreak looks at the different routes microbes use to spread through a population and the work of epidemiologists. Epidemic/Pandemic explores the factors that determine whether an outbreak will become an epidemic or a pandemic. Resources is a list, organized by topic and specific disease, of more than 250 Web sites. Glossary includes nearly 200 infectious disease terms, from AIDS to WHO.

Introduces the basic methods for infectious disease epidemiology and case studies of important disease syndromes and entities. Methods include definitions and nomenclature, outbreak investigations, disease surveillance, case-control studies, cohort studies, laboratory diagnosis, molecular epidemiology, dynamics of transmission, and assessment of vaccine field effectiveness. Case-studies focus on acute respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, hepatitis, HIV, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, malaria, and other vector-borne diseases.

This course presents a unique and challenging perspective on the causes of human disease and mortality. The course focuses on analyses of major causes of mortality in the US since 1900: cancer cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, infectious diseases. Students create analytical models to derive estimates for historically variant population risk factors and physiological rate parameters, and conduct analyses of familial data to separately estimate inherited and environmental risks. The course evaluates the basic population genetics of dominant, recessive and non-deleterious inherited risk factors.

This course presents a unique and challenging perspective on the causes of human disease and mortality. The course focuses on analyses of major causes of mortality in the US since 1900: cancer cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, infectious diseases. Students create analytical models to derive estimates for historically variant population risk factors and physiological rate parameters, and conduct analyses of familial data to separately estimate inherited and environmental risks. The course evaluates the basic population genetics of dominant, recessive and non-deleterious inherited risk factors.

The purpose of this course is to explore the subject of human disease, placing special emphasis on the cause of disease at the tissue level. The student will pay close attention to the underlying mechanisms that initiate and perpetuate the disease state. The student will begin this course with a basic review of molecules, cells, and tissues in the human body, then discuss the inflammatory reaction and the immune system. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: explain how atoms combine to form larger molecules such as proteins and carbohydrates; compare and contrast inflammation, the innate (non-specific) immune response, and the adaptive immune response; define the term infectious disease, giving examples of causative agents and resulting disease states; differentiate between apoptosis and necrosis; describe how normal cells become immortalized to become cancer cells; compare and contrast diseases involving an overactive and underactive immune system, including SCID, HIV, allergies, and asthma as examples; explain how an autoimmune response leads to diseases such as Type 1 diabetes mellitus and lupus (SLE); explain how genetic diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, are passed from parents to offspring and the changes that occur to the cells involved; describe how changes in the skeletal system and skeletal muscle anatomy and physiology lead to the development of diseases such as osteoporosis and muscular dystrophy; identify the changes that occur in the circulatory system with atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction; outline the major changes that occur in renal diseases such as glomerulonephritis; diagram the levels of damage seen with first-, second-, and third-degree burns; write a list of cellular and tissue changes seen with various diseases, including cirrhosis of the liver, thyroid disorders like hypothyroidism, nervous system diseases like Alzheimer's, and in sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis; identify major changes that occur to a body postmortem and how the autopsy is used to recognize normal and abnormal changes. (Biology 402)

Supercourse is a global, continuously updated repository of lectures on public health and prevention targeting educators across the world. Supercourse has a network of over 32000 scientists in 151 countries who are sharing for free a library of over 2500 lectures. Originally funded three times by NASA, and now by the National Library of Medicine, this "Library of Lectures" has been developed from passionate scientific lectures from across the world. The result is a technology for inexpensive, sustainable global training. The program consists of: 1. Open Source: A Global faculty is developing and sharing their best, most passionate lectures in the area of Prevention and the Internet using an open source model. This benefits all. The experienced faculty member can beef up their lectures that are not cutting edge. New instructors reduce preparation time and have better lectures. Faculty in developing countries have access to current prevention information for the first time; 2. Statistical Quality Assurance: We have established a Deming Model of statistical quality control to monitor lectures over time; 3. "Support" Educators: The Library of Lectures consists of exciting lectures by academic prevention experts in the field. The classroom teacher "takes" them out for free like a library book. We "coach" the teacher rather than directly teaching students from a distance; 4. Text books: British Medical Association put text books on line for us; 5. Multilingual: For global use, the first lecture is in 8 languages. We are experimenting with machine translation as well; 6. Faculty: Six Noble Prize winners, the US Surgeon General, 60 IOM members and other top people contributed lectures; 7. JIT lectures: Within days after a disaster lectures are provided, e.g. the Bam Earthquake, and the recent Tsunami; 8. Mirrored Servers and CDs: We have 42 mirrored servers in Egypt, Sudan, China, Mongolia and others. We have distributed 20,000 Supercourse CDs. We have published over 150 papers in leading medical journals including Nature, Lancet, British Medical Journal, Military Medicine, Nature Medicine, PNAS among others. Our web pages have been identified as in the top 100 by PC Magazine, and one of the top 11 content pages by the Lancet. We receive 75 million hits a year.