Course Catalogue

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This course addresses the broad topics of population medicine, epidemiology and veterinary public health.

Weekly lecture and practical sessions

Students must have attained the minimum requirements for entry into level 4 of the Veterinary Biosciences [Hons]/MSci Programme as specified in the Veterinary Biosciences [Hons]/MSci Programme Supplementary Regulations.

None

In course assessment: Solo oral presentation (15%) and applied assessment (20%) based on an aspect of food safety/risk management.

End of course assessment: Written examination composed of Qs which may include SAQ, data interpretation questions (DIQ) and MCQ (65%)

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

To provide students with knowledge and understanding of:

■ Epidemiological concepts, principles, methods and measures that can be applied to human and animal populations by means of which to enhance understanding of disease and to inform control

■ The positive and negative impacts of human-animal interaction through direct and indirect exposure and through consumption of foods of animal origin, with major emphasis on farm-to-fork food safety

■ The organization of human and animal health systems, at resolutions ranging from global to local, and the principles of the legislative and regulatory basis for disease control

■ The adoption of the principles of population preventive medicine to manage and control diseases of animals and humans

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Explain the limitations of diagnostic methods when estimating disease frequency in a population.

2. Apply standard epidemiological study designs/disease investigations, considering strategies to avoid/minimise biases and errors.

3. Interpret standard epidemiological measures of frequency and association, including confidence intervals around these. 

4. Explain the structure of disease surveillance systems, for animal and human diseases.

5. Interpret the outputs of disease surveillance systems, for animal and human diseases.

6. Describe the main routes of transmission of zoonotic pathogens, including indirect routes and contact networks.

7. Apply the principles of food safety, both in general and with specific reference to food products of animal origin.

8. Describe the role of risk analysis in food safety systems and in the control of food safety hazards in food products of animal origin.

9. Describe the impact of emerging and zoonotic infectious agents on human/animal/environmental health.

10.  Explain the drivers and the impacts of antimicrobial resistance.

11. Describe the role of research, including epidemiological modelling, in informing disease control efforts and policies.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.