ENV 295-01 - Special Topic: An Environmental History of Infectious Disease

4 credits (Fall)

Infectious diseases have determined the fates of cultures and of nations more than any army or geopolitical thrall ever could. This course will examine the fundamental pathogenesis, etiology and epidemiology of infectious diseases, both human and zoönotic, including smallpox, plague, yellow fever, rabies, malaria, river blindness, syphilis, yaws, kala-azar, influenza, HIV, rinderpest, hoof-and-mouth disease, and the potato blight. It will also examine the geopolitical and social changes these diseases have wrought on human demography, history and destiny, from the spread of rodent-vectored plague westward along the Silk Road, to the decimation of New World populations by smallpox after their conquest by Europeans, to the depredations of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, to the modern-day emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens (among others).

Prerequisite: Second-year standing
Instructor: Campbell