Wildlife Health and Diseases II - Epidemiology and Prevention of Wildlife Diseases

Concepts of Epidemiology: Definitions; goals, uses and types of epidemiological studies; Definition of health and disease;Disease process: factors needed to produce disease (aetiologic agent, reservoirs, ports of entry & exit, transmission media and susceptible hosts); Epidemiological patterns of transmission of diseases among wild animals, domestic animals and man;Disease epidemiological triangle: agents of disease, hosts factors (extrinsic and intrinsic) and environmental factors (landscape epidemiology, nidus of disease agent); spectrum of disease.Nature of host response to disease: paracaute, acute, sub-acute, chronic and carriers; herd immunity/population health. After completion of the course students should have learnt:

• Different types of epidemiology studies.
• Why and how disease outbreaks occur.
• Different patterns of disease transmission.
• Trends of disease outbreaks in relation to time and space.
• How to report disease outbreaks in a user friendly manner to relevant stakeholders i.e. wildlife managers and policy makers
• Investigate disease outbreaks and institute disease control measures.