The course has the main objective of providing students with the basic knowledge necessary to understand the modern approaches to health management of animal populations. To this end, basic knowledge will be provided, highly significant examples will be treated in detail and finally workshops will be held to translate the acquired theoretical skills into practice.
Course Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of zoology, ecology and evolution is required. The basic knowledge of pathology, immunology and epidemiology will be provided during the course.
Teaching Methods
At the methodological level, the course will be divided into two parts. The first will be structured in frontal lessons. The second part will be of practical laboratories, in which students will come into contact with specific aspects of health management research, such as epidemiological analyses, microscopic diagnosis, classification through dichotomous keys, approaches of molecular biology.
Assessment Methods
The exam is oral. It will start with a presentation by the student of a scientific theme. The exam will continue with open questions to evaluate the knowledge on the basic topics covered during the course. The capacity of the student to reason and connect topics will be evaluated.
Contents
In terms of contents, the course is structured into four parts. The first, more substantial part will focus on the basic concepts necessary for understanding infections and health management. Specifically, the following topics will be covered: Infectious agents; basics of immunology; basics of epidemiology; ecology of pathogens and infections; basics of diagnostics and pathology; dynamics of infections; management of animal populations. The second part of the course will deal with specific and relevant examples, which will allow to cover specific infectious agents in details and contextualize the theoretical concepts covered in the first part. The third and fourth parts will consist of laboratories, with computer experiences for epidemiological analyses, followed by laboratory experiences to understand examples of microscopy and molecular biology techniques for the study of populations and infectious agents.
