Infectious Diseases, Epidemiology and Globalization

Recommended Prerequisites

The students should be able to read the bibliography in English.

Teaching Methods

The themathics are exposed using resources such as powerpoints and viewing excerpts from documentaries / videos. Field studies are presented. It is stimulated the critical appreciation and active participation.

The evaluation includes a research, follow by oral presentation and a written work on a topic chosen within the focus of the discipline.

Learning Outcomes

Provide the theorethical and methodological background for the study of infectious diseases through the time.

Contribution of anthropology to the study of reemerging diseases. Interaction between biological, social and cultural factors in health and disease.

Among the topics presented will be addressed the health and diseases in the past, in particular the spread of infectious diseases, as result of migration and socio-economic changes, and the evolution of diagnosis and treatment, as well as the behavioral aspects and exclusion and isolation of patients from the society.

Show the potential of anthropology to health policies. Develop skills for critical discussion.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

General concepts of infectious diseases: etiology, infectious agents and taxonomy.

Doenças notifiable. Epidemics and pandemic.

Basics of epidemiology. Definition, etymology and the scientific method. Types of studies.

The anthropology of infectious diseases: past, present and future.

The impact of globalization on infectious diseases. Influence of demographic pressure, global warming, the changes of environments and socio-economic factors.

The leprosy, Hansen's disease or leprosy: emergence and spread of the disease. From isolation in medieval times to modern leprosaria.

Tuberculosis as "white plague" that crosses continents and millennia. The sanatorial movement.. The global phenomenon of multidrug resistance to antibiotics.

HIV / AIDS: collective management of the epidemic and individual management of the disease.

Emergence and spread of treponematosis. The Tuskegee and Guatemalas studies - ethical issues.

Examples of good practice against infectious diseases.

Head Lecturer(s)

Ana Luísa da Conceição dos Santos

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Other: 30.0%
Synthesis work: 70.0%

Bibliography

Baer HA. 2008. Toward a critical anthropology on the impact of global warning on health and human societies. Medical Anthr., 27(1): 2-8
Cruz A. et al. 2007. O Hospital-Colónia Rovisco Pais e os múltiplos desdobramentos da lepra: etnografia e interdisciplinaridade. Actas II Congresso Internacional sobre Etnografia. Póvoa do Varzim: Associação AGIR, p. 68-79
Dheda K., Migliori GB. 2012. The global rise of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis: is the time to bring back sanatoria now overdue?Lancet, 379:773-775
Gushulak BD, MacPherson DW. 2004. Globalization of infectious diseases: the impact of migration. Clinical
Infect. Diseases, 8:1742-174
Malden MA. 2007. Medical anthropology: regional perspectives and shared concerns. Blackwell Publishing
Maia M. 2012. Práticas sexuais de risco entre homens. Antrop. Portuguesa, 29: 49-63
Saker L et al. 2006. Infectious disease in the age of globalization. In: Kawachi I, Wamala S
(eds).Globalization and Health. Oxford University Press: 19-38