MICR 484 Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses

Winter 2025 (On-Campus)

Year 4

9-10 hours/week

3 units

Available

On-Campus Course

Online Course

To meet the demands of this evolving field, advance the profession, and equip undergraduate and graduate students interested in infectious disease to better understand the importance of zoonosis and the impact they have on global health (One Health Concept). This course will provide advanced (3rd and 4th year students) with the necessary background and understanding in medical microbiology and infectious diseases in both humans and the pathogens’ animal vectors. The course will include case-based assessments, evaluations, and outline the importance of pathogen surveillance.

Prerequisites

Minimum 3rd year (Level 3) standing and one of (MICR 270/3.0; MICR 271/3.0; MICR 221/3.0). Note: Priority will be given to students registered in a Health Sciences, Life Sciences, Biochemistry, Biology and/or Environmental Studies degree.

Learning Outcomes

After completing MICR 484, students will be able to:

Gain a broad understanding of medically relevant pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites, to enable the development of an overarching concept of the key components involved.
Apply foundational practices of infection prevention and control to predict how those processes mitigate the spread of pathogens from animals to humans.
Apply knowledge and concepts of microbiology to demonstrate how pathogens impact their animal host and then predict the interplay between infection control interventions, local environments and human populations.
Identify, describe and predict the outcome of a change in pathogenesis in their non-animal hosts (i.e humans or other intermediates) and how this might impact human health.

Evaluations

Assessment 1: Course Assignments (2 total) - 35%

Assignment 1 - 20% + 5% Peer Review

Zoonotic diseases are “Wicked Problems” – problems that are large and difficult to contain due to the range of extenuating circumstances. Your assignment here is to pretend to be a zoonotic disease and determine how to successfully spread in a population. Students are to describe and present how they would successfully cause an outbreak if they were a zoonotic pathogen.

Students are placed into small groups.
Presentations occur remotely or in person (depending on course delivery).
Groups sign up for a one-hour slot out of several days/time options.
A TA is assigned to moderate each timeslot made up of equal group numbers.
Groups take turns presenting during their timeslot.
Individual students submit peer reviews of the presentations from their timeslot.
Final grade is assigned based on average of peer reviews.

Assignment 2 - You are a Public Health official / Health care Practitioner (10%)

Students are to intervene to contain and monitor an outbreak that has just started. Students will be given a detailed scenario of an outbreak that has just started, randomly assigned from a bank of (~30) options. Students will answer questions about their scenario and what they would do to intervene and respond.

Assessment 2: Class Quizzes - 10%

Assessment 3: Midterm - 20%

Assessment 4: Class Participation - 5%

Assessment 5: Final Exam - 30%

Time Commitment

Students can expect to spend approximately 9-10 hours a week (108-120 hours per term) in study/practice and online activities for MICR 484.