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The week in a minute

Congratulations on finishing Week 2. Watch this short video in which Dr Peta-Anne Zimmerman takes a look back at what we learned this week.
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Congratulations on finishing week two. In this week, we looked at the history of infectious disease, how has it affected us, and what the future threats may hold for us. By exploring the Black Death, we were able to identify what the impact of such global spread actually had on society. The emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or golden staph has shown us how anti-microbial resistance can affect us personally and throughout health care. Through exploring influenza, we looked at how antigenic shift and antigenic drift can cause new pandemics. We also introduced you to the One Health approach, which looks at how animals, humans, and the environment work together interchangeably and can actually affect the health of all three.
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You’ve also learned how health care-associated infections can be prevented by the use of standard and transmission-based precautions. We showed you how you can personally utilise some of these precautions in your work, your home, and at school, for example. Most of all, you’ve learned the part that you can play in global infection prevention preparedness.

Congratulations on finishing Week 2. Watch this short video in which Dr Peta-Anne Zimmerman takes a look back at what we learned this week.

We have considered a large amount of material in Week 2 including:

  • The science behind infection and disease
  • Historical outbreak challenges, for example the death and destruction caused by the Black Death
  • Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, for example Golden Staph
  • Antimicrobial resistance
  • Healthcare associated infections (HAIs)
  • The One Health approach

From all that we have covered, we could ask any amount of questions, but we would like you to ponder on these:

  • After having completed this course how do you view plagues and pandemics? How do you view infection now?
  • Will you personally utilise some of the precautions we have identified? Which ones and why?
  • Do you feel you have a role to play in global infection prevention preparedness? What will that role be?

Thank you for all your contributions to the discussion. We hope you’ve learned from us as much as we’ve learned from you. We hope we’ve answered some of your questions about infection and disease, and motivated you to play your small part in infection prevention and preparedness.

Finally, we hope you enjoyed the course!

Your Task

Share with the group your responses to the questions above and any other final thoughts on the course.

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Plagues, Pestilence and Pandemics: Are You Ready?

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