Mosquito-borne disease. (Image courtesy of CDC.)

Medical Microbiology is a vast and ever expanding complex field. The role of microbes in chronic illness, like coronary disease and arthritis, continues to evolve. For example, in the Emerging Infections and Agents of Biological Warfare Lecture, one will learn that while advances in identification, culture techniques, diagnosis and treatment have led to remarkable improvements in the consequences of infectious diseases worldwide in the past quarter century, newly identified pathogens continue to emerge and affect mankind, such as Ebola, anthrax, smallpox, West Nile Virus, monkeypox virus, and others.

The intent of the course is to provide a background into the clinical and pathophysiologic aspects of infectious disease of organ systems. Given the contact hours, the course can only be an introduction. We trust that you will discover that the practice of Infectious Disease is akin to detective work: whether related to research or clinical care, we are always asking What is it? Where did it come from? Where did it go? We are not limited to an organ or even a type of patient – Like many microbes, we cross boundaries to visit surgical, neurologic, dermatologic, hematologic, or critically ill patients to name a few and thus have a varied, challenging and exciting daily experience.

Pathophysiology of Infectious Diseases is taught in conjunction with Microbiology and Pharmacology, both of which courses contain essential subject matter in the field of Medical Microbiology that will not be found in this course.