Epidemics of infectious disease are both biological and social events. Through the perspectives of the changing ecology of disease and social construction of disease, this course examines epidemics of such diseases as bubonic plague, cholera, smallpox, and AIDS. Besides considering the social factors that help determine the epidemiology of a particular outbreak of disease, the course analyzes human responses to epidemic disease. These responses include popular attitudes toward the disease and those who contract it, as well as public health measures intended to control spread of the disease.
