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Back to Epidemics - the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Epidemics - the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases by The Pennsylvania State University

4.8
stars
1,652 ratings

About the Course

Not so long ago, it was almost guaranteed that you would die of an infectious disease. In fact, had you been born just 150 years ago, your chances of dying of an infectious disease before you've reached the tender age of 5 would have been extremely high. Since then, science has come a long way in understanding infectious diseases - what they are, how they spread, and how they can be prevented. But diseases like HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis, or the flu are still major killers worldwide, and novel emerging diseases are a constant threat to public health. In addition, the bugs are evolving. Antibiotics, our most potent weapon against bacterial infections, are losing their power because the bacteria are becoming resistant. In this course, we'll explore the major themes of infectious diseases dynamics. After we’ve covered the basics, we'll be looking at the dynamics of the flu, and why we're worried about flu pandemics. We'll be looking at the dynamics of childhood diseases such as measles and whooping cough, which were once considered almost eradicated, but are now making a comeback. We'll explore Malaria, and use it as a case study of the evolution of drug resistance. We'll even be looking at social networks - how diseases can spread from you to your friends to your friends' friends, and so on. And of course we’ll be talking about vaccination too. We’ll also be talking about how mobile phones, social media and crowdsourcing are revolutionizing disease surveillance, giving rise to a new field of digital epidemiology. And yes, we will be talking about Zombies - not human zombies, but zombie ants whose brains are hijacked by an infectious fungus. We're looking forward to having you join us for an exciting course!...

Top reviews

SN

Apr 12, 2016

great course and its intensive learning . One might think its just another course . However, one needs to follow all the lectures and notes closely to be able to pass all their assignments .

DR

Jan 25, 2022

Considero que es un excelente curso para introducirse al área de la epidemiología, ya sea para profesionales del área de la salud o personas que quieran tener un conocimiento general del tema.

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326 - 350 of 407 Reviews for Epidemics - the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases

By Abu B S

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Jan 20, 2025

Good course

By Malshi O G

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Oct 12, 2019

Really good

By FATIMAH A S A F A S A

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Oct 21, 2024

ممتازه جدا

By roxana g g

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May 27, 2023

buen curso

By deuzuita b d m

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Mar 6, 2016

it is good

By Amit P ( O

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Mar 4, 2025

Very Good

By Zia U R

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Aug 5, 2024

Excellent

By Peter O

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Apr 12, 2022

i love it

By Sara K

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Apr 28, 2017

Loved it!

By Lucas F

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Feb 4, 2016

very well

By 李晓雨

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Sep 1, 2015

very good

By hossam g

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Aug 30, 2015

excellent

By Drishti S

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Mar 11, 2025

good one

By Ricardo G R

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Aug 14, 2015

Amazing!

By eleonor

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Jun 10, 2016

great!

By Henok M

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Jan 25, 2023

great

By 邵红霞

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Nov 22, 2017

great

By Alfred L J

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Jul 19, 2023

good

By ABHRAJIT D

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Sep 19, 2020

good

By Mona A A

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Jun 3, 2020

GOOD

By kiatnern

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Apr 21, 2016

Nice

By Igu C

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Oct 8, 2022

By Josephine P

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Oct 26, 2016

G

By Kuong S

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Oct 8, 2015

R

By Alejandro P

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Aug 18, 2015

I liked the course, with its many different speakers and approaches.

The one thing I missed the most was seeing the models in action. Even if the course isn't aimed at scientists or programmers, there are free online simulations where one can adjust model constants to see the effects interactively without any knowledge required.

See NetLogo at http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/, for which there are forest fire, disease spread in networks, cellular automatas and many other interactive simulations. Insight providing questions may involve finding the value of a parameter such as the epidemic can't spread, for instance.

For more formula oriented optional exercises, I would recommend something similar to Differential Equations in Action from Udacity. It's a relatively easy course implementing the SIR model, physics and ABS. An exercise could be "modify the simulation to consider X% germs get resistant after each antibiotic treatment" (either in NetLogo, or Python).