Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Disease

Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Disease

Can mathematical models really guide public health policies? How influential was the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in reshaping animal health and trade practices? Why haven’t we eradicated measles yet? How does pathogen genomics help us track the spread of infectious diseases? 

The Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Disease (ECID) module caters for all NST, MedSt and VetST students interested in the big picture of how infectious diseases spread in animal and human populations, and how science and policy interact in the design and implementation of control measures.

This module also seeks to demystify the application of mathematical and computational models to understand disease dynamics and pathogen evolution. Students with a particular interest in quantitative techniques may wish to explore this further through a computational project, whereas those without can focus on the applications of epidemiological concepts to a wide range of diseases.

The ECID module aims to provide students with a grounding in six overlapping topics:

1. The principles of effective surveillance.

2. The structure of simple mathematical models of transmission, how they are built and estimated from data.

3. The basic (and effective) reproduction ratios and herd immunity and how these concepts reframe the problem of control away from individuals and towards populations.

4. The use of genomic data and evolutionary models to monitor the spread of infectious diseases in populations and inform control policies.

5. The role played by mathematical models in the formulation of policy on control of infectious disease.

6. The mechanisms underlying the response of bacteria to pharmaceutical control measures (vaccines and antibiotics) and the evolution of antibiotic resistance.

These concepts are delivered through a combination of lectures, case studies, practical classes and guided literature reviews. The program is organised and delivered by experts in infectious disease epidemiology from across the School of Biological Sciences, complemented by guest lectures on specific infections by external experts.

Recent Dissertation titles

  • Should mosquitoes be eradicated?
  • What have we failed to learn: exploring the UK's readiness for an outbreak of High Consequence Infection Diseases post Covid.
  • Will the reemergence of mumps in the UK necessitate changes to the national vaccine strategy?
  • Which is the more likely source of the next pandemic: influenza viruses or coronaviruses?
  • Why is multi-drug resistance so prevalent in Staphylococcus aureus?

Recent Project titles

  • Synchronisation and resonance effects in seasonal infectious disease outbreaks due to loss of immunity
  • Spatiotemporal patterns of dog bites and rabies cases in Tanzania
  • Guiding evidence-based interventions for livestock diseases
  • Bacterial metabolism and virulence in Streptococcus suis
  • Investigating the effect of urinary extracellular vesicles on particle and crystal formation in human urine