| Unit name | Wildlife Diseases and Integrated Health |
|---|---|
| Unit code | VETSM0036 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Ed van Klink |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Bristol Veterinary School |
| Faculty | Faculty of Health Sciences |
This Unit will provide an introduction to basic concepts in wildlife diseases & epidemiology. It will outline the different types of pathogen and host, the impact of diseases on wildlife individuals and populations (using practical examples such as brucellosis in Bison, tuberculosis in white-tailed deer, white nose syndrome in bats, anthrax in hippopotamus, chytridiomycosis in amphibians and phocine distemper in seals), movement of disease among wildlife, domestic animals and man, and how to identify & monitor diseases in both captive and free-living animal populations. The Unit will go on to describe the treatment and control of infectious diseases, including vaccination, movement control & culling, and the modelling of infectious disease outbreaks. Students will be taught a critical awareness of currents problems in wildlife disease, including the impacts of human activities on the incidence and distribution of wildlife diseases via habitat destruction, international travel, global trade, climate change etc. Special emphasis will be placed on wildlife diseases of human significance (e.g. rabies, Ebola, SARS, avian influenza, bovine TB etc) and on how to distinguish endemic from emerging diseases. A workshop will be held to simulate the response to an emerging disease. Attention will also be given to wildlife as a source of food for people and the relevance of the safety of that food.
Knowledge and understanding will be developed by following a structured syllabus, evaluating directed reading, and engaging in problem solving exercises. The unit will be taught through lectured material, practical and computer laboratory work, tutorials, student assignments and interactive discussions. Lectures and tutorials will be delivered by researchers who are experts in the relevant fields.
In-course assessment will incorporate an individual written report, a group presentation and an individual poster presentation and will together constitute 60% of the student's overall unit grade. Formal summative written assessment by examination will constitute 40% of the student's unit grade.
Osofsky, S.A., Cleaveland, S., Karesh, W.B., Kock, M.D., Nyhus, P.J., Starr, L. and Yang, A. (Eds). (2005). Conservation and Development Interventions at the Wildlife/Livestock Interface: Implications for Wildlife, Livestock and Human Health. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. xxxiii + 220pp. ISBN: 2-8317-0864-8.
OIE Training Manual On Wildlife Diseases And Surveillance (2010) OIE (http://www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home/eng/Internationa_Standard_Setting/docs/pdf/WGWildlife/A_Training_Manual_Wildlife.pdf)
OIE Terrestrial animal health code. Volumes I & II, 20th Edition, 2011. ISBN (volume I): 978-92-9044-825-9, (volume II): 978-92-9044-826-6.
Kaplan, B., Kahn, L.H. and Monath, T.P. (Eds) (2009). One Health - One Medicine’: linking human, animal and environmental health. Veterinaria Italiana 45(1) Jan-Mar 2009 (218pp). ISBN 88-901726-0-1. Online ISSN 1828-1427.
Anon. (2003) Animal Health Matters: Improving the Health of Wild and Domestic Animals to Enhance Long‐Term Development Success in USAID‐Assisted Countries. Wildlife Conservation Society, New York.
Foreign Animal Diseases Revised 2008 Seventh Edition. Committee on Foreign and Emerging Diseases of the United States Animal Health Association USAHA, PO Box 8805, St. Joseph, MO 64508, Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2008900990. ISBN 978-0-9659583-4-9. (http://www.usaha.org/Portals/6/Publications/FAD.pdf)
Jones KE, Patel NG, Levy MA, Storeygard A, Balk D, et al. (2008) Global trends in emerging infectious diseases. Nature 451: 990–993. doi:10.1038/nature06536.
