Time Schedule:
Bettina Shell-Duncan
BIO A 469
Seattle Campus
Delineation and analysis of a specific problem or a more general area in biocultural anthropology. Offered occasionally by visiting or resident faculty.
Class description
Evolutionary Medicine GEOG 495/BIO A 460
Winter Quarter, 2003 Tuesday 1:30-2:20, Thursday 1:30-3:20 Mary Gates Hall 228
Instructors:
Dr. Jonathan Mayer Dr. Bettina Shell-Duncan Professor, Departments of Geography, Associate Professor, Departments of Medicine, Family Medicine, and Anthropology and Health Services Health Services Office: 412-C Smith Hall Office: M42 Denny Hall Office Hours: Office Hours: T 2:30-3:30, or by appt. Tel: 534-7110 Tel: 543-9607 Email: jmayer@u.washington.edu Email: bsd@u.washington.edu
Human disease ecology is the study of interrelationships between cultural, environmental and biological dimensions of human health. That humans adapt to their environment through a variety of biological mechanisms, behavioral strategies, and social mechanisms is a central tenet of disease ecology. This course will examine human health as a measure of the effectiveness with which individuals adapt to their environment, and will evaluate selective pressures affecting the interaction of human hosts and pathogens. Interest will focus on the sociocultural dimensions of human groups and the consideration of pathogens not simply as disease-causing agents, but self-replicating organisms affected by evolutionary pressures. In this context, human behavior and the environment will be evaluated in terms of their effect on the spread of infectious disease, and interactions with biological determinants of human health.
Recent attention has focused on “evolutionary” or Darwinian medicine, which emphasizes the co-evolution of hosts and pathogens. Neither humans nor their pathogens are passive in the dance of co-adaptation. Evolutionary thinking has been providing a new lens for examining biomedical issues that would not have been suggested by other perspectives. This approach has shed insights on numerous issues including the evolution of virulence, antibiotic resistance, the implications of signs and symptoms of disease, the effects of environmental change on host-parasite dynamics, and host adaptations that may have contributed to fitness in the Stone Age but are obsolete today. We will examine the concepts of environmental pressures on the evolution of human-pathogen relationships in this interdisciplinary course, which is cross-listed in the Departments of Geography (GEOG 495) and Anthropology (BIOA 469). While there are no specific prerequisites for the course, students should have a background either in medical geography, biological anthropology, biology, or public health.
Topics that will be covered include:
· An introduction to evolutionary thinking · Ecosystems approaches to studying disease stress · Historical perspectives on disease patterns in human populations · Interpreting signs and symptoms of disease · The evolution of virulence · The evolution of malaria · Lethal parasitism · Evolutionary perspectives on HIV/AIDS · Emerging Infections · The sanitation hypothesis and the evolution of allergy · The environment of evolutionary adaptedness and the emergence of chronic disease
Readings: Readings will include Randolph Nesse and George C. Williams, Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine; Paul Ewald, The Evolution of Infectious Diseases. These books are available at the University Book Store. Additional readings will include a number of articles that will be available on electronic reserve through the University of Washington Library web page.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
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Class assignments and grading
