This is a PLuS Alliance course offered through UNSW. Students at UNSW, Arizona State University and Kings College London who are in a PLuS Alliance program can enrol into this course.

The course will provide a grounding in epidemiological pattern recognition (epidemic, endemic, sporadic) in infectious diseases for first-outbreak responders, surveillance officers, or policy makers from medicine, allied health, public health, emergency management, law enforcement, military or others from relevant backgrounds. Case studies in risk assessment, risk mitigation, response and prevention will be studied. These will cover Ebola virus disease, MERS-CoV, avian influenza and salmonellosis; distinguishing natural from unnatural epidemics, surveillance tools, rapid intelligence and analysis methods. Data quality in resource limited settings and implications for risk assessment will be examined. Understanding of modelling and forecasting of infectious diseases based on known transmission dynamics and patterns will also be explored. Preparation of first line responders to optimise usage of infectious diseases intelligence techniques will be covered, including prioritisation of data sourcing/mining, strengthening, mapping disease transmission patterns to modes of transmission, and ultimately epidemic control measures.