Georgetown University

This course considers the global history of infectious disease. Topics addressed cover the planet and span millennia, from tuberculosis’ alleged ‘out-of-Africa’ trek and the zoonotic origins of major human pathogens to plague’s Andean and Mongolian foci and the ecological triggers of epidemics. Lectures and readings are interdisciplinary and written sources of all sorts (from ancient annals to 21st-century statistics) are married with the fruits of the paleosciences (paleo-pathology, -microbiology, -genetics and -climatology) in order to flesh out our evolving history with infectious disease. Students will be introduced to the methods of multiple fields of study relevant to the history of health and to the advantages and challenges of interdisciplinarity. They will gain historical perspective on global health issues faced today and discover how an understanding of the past can help us presently and in the future.