Top 10 Courses on Infectious Disease

If you’re looking to learn more about infectious diseases and how to protect yourself from them, consider taking one of the many courses on the topic available online. These courses can provide you with a wealth of information on the causes, symptoms, and treatments of various types of infections, as well as tips for preventing them.

There are a number of different providers offering courses on infectious disease, so be sure to shop around and find one that meets your needs. Many courses are self-paced, so you can work at your own pace and complete the material when it’s convenient for you.

Epidemics – the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases

This course examines the basics of infectious diseases with a focus on the dynamics of flu, malaria, whooping cough, measles and a wide range of childhood illnesses. Similarly, it considers the spread of diseases from one person to another within the same social network. In addition, Epidemics – the Dynamics of Infectious Diseases takes a further look at the issues related to vaccination, drug resistance, as well as how disease surveillance has been revolutionized by technological advancements such as social media, smartphones, and crowdfunding.

This course is taught by David P. Hughes, Marcel Salathé, Andrew Read, Mary L. Poss,  Peter Hudson, Ottar N. Bjornstad, Matthew Ferrari, and Rachel A. Smith. Provided by Coursera, this free online course is from Pennsylvania State University and lasts for 8 weeks.

Outbreaks and Epidemics

Outbreaks and epidemics is a disease and disorder course from the Johns Hopkins University that is offered via Coursera. Although this 4-week long course is free, students can obtain paid certificates after completing it. It equips learners with the essentials of investigating and identifying pathogens, reporting, and responding.

The first week of this program gives an overview of the course with the main attention on outbreaks, pandemics, and epidemics. It also engages students in the prevention of and response to these health issues.

Stories of Infection

Offered by Stanford University via Coursera, Stories of Infection is a unique patient-centered, story-based program that gives students an overview of different infectious conditions. With the aid of short videos, this course will allow students to learn about the various stages of the disease of every patient. To improve the understanding of the learners, it adds some elements of pathophysiology, microbiology, and immunology to its outline.

After introducing the learners to the course, Maya Adam MD will take the time to talk about different bacterial infections, viral infections, and several other infectious pathogens. Upon the completion of this free online course, each interested student can pay to get a certificate.

The Challenges of Global Health

The Challenges of Global Health course is made available on Coursera from Duke University. As the topic rightly suggests, this course takes a broader look at the various issues associated with the health of different individuals around the world. It is a free online program with a paid certificate and is designed to be completed within 5 weeks.

Dr. David Boyd, a renowned professor, sheds more light on the topic by using lectures, short videos, and thought-provoking interviews with experienced global health professionals from all over the world. The syllabus covers Basic Concepts in Global Health, Understanding the Key Global Health Challenges, Actors & Action: Finding Global Health Solutions, and The Future of Global Health.

Epidemics

Provided by the University of Hong Kong through the platform of Coursera, Epidemics is a 10-week course that seeks to explain the basic scientific principles that affect epidemics and the actions targeted at combatting them. It revolves around the steps that are being taken to prevent and manage epidemics.

Starting on February 10, Epidemics will be taught by more than 10 experts from the University of Hong Kong and Harvard University. These tutors will follow a syllabus that features 4 different themes that are centered on origins, spread, control and communication of epidemics.

Essentials of Global Health

Essentials of Global Health is Yale University’s course that is offered through Coursera. It is a free, structured course that introduces students to an array of subjects that affect the health of people around the globe. Foremost, you will learn about the causes of morbidity and mortality, the causes of concern about these issues, and actions that can be taken to prevent these issues.

Although this course affects everybody, its main focus is people living in low- and middle-income countries as well as the poor.

Anchored by Richard Skolnik, this course’s syllabus includes The Burden of Disease, Cross-Cutting Themes in Global Health, Health Systems and Value for Money in Health, and Critical Causes of Illness and Death. It will be rounded off with the consideration of what the future looks like for global health issues.

Causes of Human Disease: Transmitting and Fighting Infection

The University of Leeds in conjunction with FutureLearn presents a short course tagged Causes of Human Disease: Transmitting and Fighting Infection. Within 2 weeks, students will be taught how infectious diseases are caused by pathogens, the transmission of the diseases, the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics and other related issues. The course will also describe the process through which the immune system combats different.

This course is designed for everyone that wants to learn more about the causes of various diseases that affect humans. Upon completion of this free online course, you can pay $74 to get a certificate. Notably, it is taught by Michael Routledge.

Plagues, Pestilence, and Pandemics: Are You Ready?

If you are a policymaker, student nurse, student healthcare worker, or dentist, this course is for you. Anchored by Dr. Peta-Anne Zimmerman, Plagues, Pestilence and Pandemics: Are You Ready? is from Griffith University and available on FutureLearn. It is a 2-week program that focuses on the present and rising global health issues. Students will also learn about the responses of global health workers to these issues.

During the course of the program, students will be taught about the spread, pathogens, and manifestation of infections. Upon completion of the program, students would have also learned about the re-emerging of epidemics and how many communities are suffering from diseases because of bacterial resistance.

Extracellular Vesicles in Health and Disease

Extracellular Vesicles in Health and Disease is offered by the University of California, Irvine through Coursera. This free online is all about evaluating extracellular vesicles and how they affect our health. After introducing the topic, this course dwells more on other areas of the curriculum which include the Physiological Function of EVs and Pathophysiology of EVs in Cancer and Various Diseases.

This course is mainly designed for molecular and cell biologists, clinicians and scientists. It has a duration of 4 weeks. If you are interested, you can get a paid certificate after satisfying the requirements of the course.

MalariaX: Defeating Malaria from the Genes to the Globe

For 8 weeks, Marcia Castro, Michael R. Reich, Sarah Volkman, Flaminia Catteruccia, and Dyann Wirth, and Marcel Tanner will be teaching students different factors that affect the eradication of malaria. Offered by Harvard University via edX, this program will explain the control and eradication of malaria from the technological, historical, scientific, economic, political, and social perspectives.

This course has 8 interrelated modules which include Setting the Stage for Malaria Elimination, Biology of Malaria, Vector Biology and the Dynamics of Malaria Transmission, Genomic Approaches to Malaria Elimination, and lots more. It is worthwhile to note that MalariaX: Defeating Malaria from the Genes to the Globe is a free, self-paced online course. Any interested students can get a certificate for $49.