Veterinary Epidemiology

Course topics

• Study designs
• In this initial session, the most important study designs for veterinary epidemiology will be discussed and their uses explained.
• Disease causation and association
• First, you will discover the mechanisms leading to disease causation and learn how causes of a disease may be observed as associations. Next, you will learn to recognize and overcome a variety of hurdles to get back from associations to causality.
• Diagnostic testing
• You will explore various aspects of diagnostics tests, such as test characteristics, test interpretation, use of multiple tests, and testing at herd level. Attention will also be given to evaluation of new tests.
• Sampling
• This part covers various sampling schemes, and is for a large part devoted to calculating sample sizes for some basic sampling schemes.
• Stratified analysis
• Stratified analysis is a basic approach to data. We will focus on why and how to divide data into strata (sub-sets) in order to facilitate analysis and interpretation. Effect modification and confounding are the key issues covered here.
• Linear and logistic regression modeling
• You will become familiar with the linear process, all the way from raw data all the way to model output. You will learn to understand the concept of linear regression modeling and you will also gain a basic understanding of logistic regression.
• Model building, matching and coding
• These summarizing topics will deal with some specific aspects of data handling, such as analysis tools for matched data.
• Outbreak analysis
• You will be introduced to a structured general approach to outbreak investigations, not particularly related to infectious OIE list diseases.
• Risk analysis
• This basic introduction will illustrate where epidemiology meets risk analysis. The stepwise risk analysis approach is a very useful tool for herd health-related veterinary advice.
• Infectious disease dynamics
• We will deal with some basic infectious disease models and important parameters (e.g. the SIR [Susceptible, Infections, Removed] model, the basic reproduction number, and the transmission rate). We will also cover the analysis of simple observational data sets, and the principles of transmission experiments. Simulations will be used to illustrate important design aspects of a disease surveillance program.

Assessment

To successfully complete this course, you need to actively participate in the discussion forums and complete the learning unit assignments, including:

• Individual and group assignments
• A final assignment: this involves a final exam, consisting of open questions. You are allowed to redo the exam once.

Edition 2020: The final exam will take place on June 22th, 2020. The re-examination will take place on July 27th, 2020.
If you are able and willing to take the exam in Utrecht, the Netherlands, we are available to proctor the exam for you without any costs. If you have to take the exam from a different location, you need a proctor. This proctor may ask you to pay for their expenses. Please read more about proctoring on our specific webpage.
The exam is not compulsory. However, if you want to receive the Course Certificate and the credits, it is obligatory to take the exam.
It might be that, due to a force majeure situation, you cannot be present during the first exam moment. You must then, preferably prior to the first exam option, ask the academic counsellor for permission to be absent
In short, as of now, it is no longer possible to skip the first exam option and -automatically- enrol in the second (re-sit) exam. Unauthorized absence during the first exam period results in no longer being able to finish the course that college year.