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Unit of study_

PUBH5300: Infectious Disease Epidemiology

2024 unit information

The suite of epidemiological practices and methods unique to infectious diseases comprises a critical toolkit that is urgently needed by epidemiologists in our current pandemic era. This unit will provide students with a firm understanding of infectious disease processes, modes of transmission, and transmission dynamics in populations of diverse demographic characteristics. Students will learn a standardised framework of infectious disease epidemiology to understand how pathogens move through populations and from which we can derive key parameters such as the basic reproduction number, epidemic growth, epidemic thresholds, and herd immunity thresholds. We will also incorporate aspects of networks and ecology to understand the ways in which contacts, and other forms of interaction, between individuals or between individuals and vectors influence transmission dynamics. Finally, we will explore the ways in which various public health interventions can be used to arrest infection transmission within populations and how to monitor the effects of such interventions.

Unit details and rules

Managing faculty or University school:

Public Health

Code PUBH5300
Academic unit Public Health
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
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None
Corequisites:
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None
Prohibitions:
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None
Assumed knowledge:
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A basic understanding of introductory statistics and generalised linear regression (as would be attained through a unit such as PUBH5217 or equivalent, or through equivalent experience). No previous coding experience is required or assumed

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. Describe and evaluate infectious disease outbreak investigations, modes of transmission, and transmission dynamics in diverse populations
  • LO2. Apply standard protocols for outbreak investigation in clinical and public health settings
  • LO3. Analyse and identify spatial and temporal patterns of transmission
  • LO4. Use infectious disease models to predict future infections, recoveries, and other public health outcomes
  • LO5. Calculate and interpret measures of pathogen transmission derived from epidemiological models
  • LO6. Evaluate the effectiveness of public health interventions to reduce or prevent outbreaks
  • LO7. Analyse and map outbreak risk by way of the interactions between humans, animals, and their shared environments

Unit availability

This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.

The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.

Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 2 2024
Online Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Outline unavailable
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 2 2022
Online Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 2 2023
Online Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Modes of attendance (MoA)

This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.