Download Disease and Contemporary Society

Learning in Retirement
1516 Dunton Tower, Carleton University
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Disease and Contemporary Society
Lecturer: Dr. Alan Mortimer
Winter 2016: Wednesdays, January 13th – February 17th
Room 124, Leeds House Building
Schedule of topics:
Week 1:
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Infectious agents: virus, bacteria, parasites, prions
Preventable diseases of childhood:
o measles, mumps, rubella
o pertussis, typhoid
o chicken pox and shingles
no longer vaccinated:
o polio, smallpox
Week 2:
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Bacterial Infections of the 21st Century
o Cell proliferation
Human bacterial ecology
Antibiotics
o Classic
o New generation
o Antibiotic resistance
Example Diseases
o C. Difficle
o ‘Flesh eating disease’
o Blood poisoning
Week 3:
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Autoimmune diseases In the 21st Century
o The body’s immune response
o Components of autoimmune response
o Role of infection
A sample of autoimmune diseases
o Arthritis
Did you know? Your registration in the LinR program allows you to borrow materials from Carleton University’s
MacOdrum Library. To receive a temporary borrowing card, visit the circulation desk and identify yourself as a
participant of LinR.
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o Crohn’s diseases
o Lupus etc
Diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune disease
Week 4:
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Viral Infections of the 21st Century
o How viruses cause infection
o How the body fights infection
o The human animal link
HIV
o Treatments for HIV
o HIV vaccine
MERS and SARS
Ebola
Week 5:
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Cancer: the disease of the 21st century
Cell division and cell proliferation
Cancer:
o What cancer is
o Components of cancer genetic, environmental, infectious
o The concept of co-promoter
Cancer treatments
The concept of a ‘cure’
Week 6:
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Emerging and re-emerging diseases
o TB
o Polio
Factors influencing emergent diseases
o Geographic
o Environmental
o Economic
Impact of diseases of Africa, China and India
Recommended readings for continued learning:
These books provide interesting related information.
As the lecture series deals with current topics there are no books dealing directly with much of the
course material. These books are easy to read and provide background.
Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine’s Greatest Lifesaver. Arthur Allen, W.W. Norton and
Company (2007).
The author does have a definite opinion, but the information is central to the place of vaccines
in contemporary society.
Flu: The Story or the Great Influenza Epidemic and the Search for the Virus that Caused It. Gina Kolata,
Touchstone Press (2005).
If you want to know why people worry about influenza, this will tell the story; at least up to
2005.
Polio, An American Story. David M. Oshinsky, Oxford University Press (2005).
Polio is a Canadian story too, but there isn’t a book about it.
The Emperor of all Maladies, A Biography of Cancer. Siddhartha Mukherjee, Scribner (2010).
Pulitzer Prize winning history of cancer
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Rebecca Skloot, Broadway Books (2010).
An important story for anyone learning about cell biology. The real story behind HELA cells that
form the foundation of experimental cell biology.