Unit VETERINARY EPIDEMIOLOGY
- Course
- Veterinary medicine
- Study-unit Code
- GP005417
- Curriculum
- In all curricula
- Teacher
- Fabrizio Passamonti
- Teachers
-
- Maria Luisa Marenzoni (Codocenza)
- Hours
- 26 ore (Codocenza) - Maria Luisa Marenzoni
- CFU
- 2
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2017
- Offered
- 2018/19
- Learning activities
- Caratterizzante
- Area
- Discipline delle malattie infettive ed infestive
- Academic discipline
- VET/05
- Type of study-unit
- Obbligatorio (Required)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian
- Contents
- Introduction to Epidemiology: definition, history and uses. Descriptive, analytical and experimental epidemiology.
Transmission and maintenance of infection. Trends in the distribution of disease.
Measures of disease occurrence: prevalence, incidence, mortality, case-fatality.
Analytical epidemiology: measures of association. Determinants of disease. Multifactorial diseases; Koch's postulates, Evans' rules. Association and causality in the Epidemiology. Hill’s rules.
Sampling: basic concepts.
Evidence based Veterinary Medicine (EBVM). Clinical governance.
Types of study in epidemiology: observational and experimental studies. Study design: systematic revision and meta-analysis; blinded and double blinded randomized clinical trials; cohort study; case-control study; cross-sectional study; description of cases and case series.
Surveillance. Nature and collection of data. Monitoring, control and eradication plans.
Outbreak investigations. Patterns of disease occurence: epidemic curves.
Diagnostic testing in epidemiology: evaluation and interpretation.
Statistical and biological significance.
Seminar entitled "Biblioteca - Bibliographic Research and Scientific Information", conducted in collaboration with the staff of the Centro Servizi Bibliotecari.
Seminar entitled " Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Umbria e delle Marche and the Epidemiological Observatory" conducted in collaboration with the Head of the Epidemiological Observatory Umbria and Marche.
Practical activities are held in the computer classroom and are the following: scientific papers and Evidence Based Medicine: research of scientific articles; tutorial on major measures of central trend and dispersion and statistical test application using spreadsheets; calculation of the main parameters of a statistical test and association measures (Odds Ratio and Relative Risk) through spreadsheet and openepi software; calculation of the main parameters of a diagnostic test through spreadsheet and OpenEpi software. - Reference texts
- Appunti di Epidemiologia Veterinaria, di E. Bottarelli, available at: www.quadernodiepidemiologia.it/epi/HomePage.html
Ezio Bottarelli, Fabio Ostanello: Epidemiologia, Teoria ed esempi di Medicina veterinaria. Edagricole, Bologna, 2011.
For further information:
Veterinary Epidemiology, third edition (2005), di M. Thrusfield, Blackwell Publishing.
Slides of the lecturer will be available on the system unistudium. The access will be explained during the course. - Educational objectives
- Main knowledge acquired will be:
-interpretation and application of the main epidemiological measures;
-identification of determinants of disease and criteria of casuality;
-application of Evidence Based Medicine;
-application of epidemiology in Public health (sampling, performance of a diagnostic test, surveillance program);
The main competence will be:
-structured research in different databases based on Evidence Based Veterinary Medicine (EBVM);
-elaboration and use of a calculator sheet to study the performance of a diagnostic test. - Teaching methods
- The course consists of 18 hours face-to-face and 8 hours for practical training (for 4 groups), and it is organized as follows:
-Lecturers on all the topics of the course;
-two seminars, one of them in collaborations with public institutions that work in Public Health (Istituto Zooprofilattico) about application of the main concepts of surveillance in Public Health.
-four practical activities at the computer lab to work out a spreadsheet to study the main epidemiological measures, the performance of a diagnostic test and to perform a research oriented by Evidence Based Veterinary Medicine. - Extended program
- Introduction to Epidemiology: definition, history and uses. Descriptive, analytical and experimental epidemiology (1.5 hours).
Transmission and maintenance of infection. Trends in the distribution of disease (1.5 hours).
Measures of disease occurrence: prevalence, incidence, mortality (1.5 hours).
Analytical epidemiology: measures of association. Determinants of disease. Multifactorial diseases; Koch's postulates, Evans' rules. Association and causality in the Epidemiology. Hill’s rules (1.5 hours).
Sampling: basic concepts. Statistical and biological significance (1.5 hours).
Scientific papers. Evidence based Veterinary Medicine (EBVM). Clinical governance (1.5 hours).
Types of study in epidemiology: observational and experimental studies. Study design: systematic revision and meta-analysis; blinded and double blinded randomized clinical trials; cohort study; case-control study; cross-sectional study; description of cases and series of cases. Bias and confounding factors (1.5 hours).
Surveillance. Nature and collection of data. Monitoring, control and eradication plans (1.5 hours).
Outbreak investigations. Patterns of disease occurence: epidemic curves (1.5 hours).
Diagnostic testing in epidemiology: evaluation and interpretation (1.5 hours).
Seminar entitled "Biblioteca - Bibliographic Research and Scientific Information", conducted in collaboration with the staff of the Centro Servizi Bibliotecari (1.5 hours).
Seminar entitled " Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Umbria e delle Marche and the Epidemiological Observatory" conducted in collaboration with the Head of the Epidemiological Observatory Umbria and Marche (1.5 hours).
Practical activities:
Scientific papers and Evidence based Veterinary Medicine (2 hours); Tutorial on major measures of central trend and dispersion and statistical test application using spreadsheets (2 hours); calculation of the main parameters of a statistical test and association measures (Odds Ratio and Relative Risk) through spreadsheet and OpenEpi software (2 hours); main performance of the diagnostic tests through spreadsheet and OpenEpi software (2 hours).