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Epidemiology

Published on January 31, 2023   37 min

A selection of talks on Infectious Diseases

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0:00
Hello, my name is Laura Harrington and I am a Professor in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University in the United States. Today, I will be presenting a lecture on epidemiology. I'll present this course in the context of vector-borne diseases.
0:22
Before you view this lecture, please review the lectures on vector-borne disease transmission, as well as those on the biology of arboviruses in malaria. I will assume that you have some baseline knowledge on these topics. Today I'm going to focus just on biologically transmitted agents. Keep in mind that mechanically transmitted agents and other modes of transmission are important but will not be covered. I also will not cover outbreak investigation.
0:56
Here is an outline of my presentation for today. I'll begin with an introduction to the field of epidemiology. We'll then discuss determinants of disease. Then I will cover general and vector-specific epidemiological measures including mosquito and tick infection rate. I will then share some field-based applications of epidemiology and then I will conclude with a review and some references for further reading.
1:30
Here are the learning objectives for this lecture. At the end of my presentation, you should be able to define epidemiology and describe why it is important and understand the common terms used in epidemiological practice. I expect that you will be able to understand the difference between normal endemic disease cycles and epidemic disease. And you should be able to calculate vector-borne disease measures, described how they are important, and determine when to apply each measure. And I will be presenting a range of different measures today. I also expect that you'll be able to describe different data represented by measures of morbidity and mortality and consider the complexity of factors or determinants that influence vector-borne disease transmission. And lastly, you should be able to compare and contrast approaches to estimating disease risks and how they are used operationally.