Overview of Course

Climate change, increased population density and geographic mobility are aiding disease outbreaks, such as Malaria, Dengue, the Flu and of course COVID. We will examine diseases found in the countries we are visiting. Advances in modern biotechnology will be used to drive much of the discussions. Interdisciplinary (scientific, economic, political, religious) aspects of an epidemic will be explored with an emphasis on the complexities of world interdependence. In this seminar we will read magazine, newspaper and research articles as well as book chapters, about the intersection between infectious disease and modernization. It has no prerequisites, you just need to be interested in infectious diseases and in why “The corollary of progress is risk.”