General Ecology, ECOL 3500, University of Georgia
Lecture: Disease
Updated: 16 February, 2009
Topics
Don't confuse cause versus effect
Agent (cause)
Plasmodium parasite
HIV
Smoking
Heavy drinking
Lack of exercise; too much (fast) food
Lack of seatbelt use
Disease (effect)
Malaria -- 'bad air' -- Symptoms: fever, malaise, ... possible death
AIDS
Lung cancer, emphysema
Cirrhosis of liver
Obesity; Diabetes
Windshield shards in head
Don't confuse rate versus standing crop
Prevalence of disease (standing crop)
Incidence of disease (rate of new cases with disease symptoms)
Prevalence of infection (propostion of population with infection, not necessarily with disease)
Incidence of infection (rate of transmission)
Types of disease
Infectious
Environmental (air pollution, smoking, chemical food poisoning)
Genetic -- Developmental
Malnutrition
Congenital
Interaction of above causes
Infectious disease transmission
Density dependent (airborne, waterborne diseases/agents)
Vectored (mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, needles)
Close contact (STD's, kissing, scabies)
Time lags
Short -- diseases of past -- smallpox, measles, polio, TB, ...
(Caveats: Evolution of drug resistance; Bio-weapons)
Long -- diseases of future -- Alzheimer's, Parkinson disease, Chron's disease, many cancers
Symptomatic versus asymptomatic
Carriers -- Typhoid Mary
Site of infection -- Gonorrhea
Course of infection
-- SIR models: Susceptible -> Infected -> Recovered
Susceptible
Exposed
Infectious (or not)
Diseased (or not)
Recovered (or not)
Immune to future infection (or not)
Other considerations
Endemic, epidemic, pandemic
Emerging diseases, zoonotic and other sources:
AIDS, Legionnaires disease, Toxic Shock Syndrome, Hanta Virus, Lyme Disease, Purple fever in Brazil
Drug resistance
Introductions, invasions
Climate change
Evolution of virulence -- prudent versus pathogenic parasites
Emerging technologies
Diagnostic testing
Genomics: personal genome, risk assessment
Internet: reporting, diagnosis, teaching, mapping, ...
Database integration and mining
(Caveat: Ethics of big sister versus big brother; health insurance, employment, ...)
Medical automation
Larry Brilliant: TED Prize wish: Help stop the next pandemic
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