Ebola in Context OER

Course: Ebola in Context OER | Open Study at LSHTM

• General

  Ebola in Context
  Understanding Transmission, Response and Control

  

  This page contains a series of downloadable resources and learning activities from the School's Ebola in Context course. The material was originally delivered as a free online course in January, April and August 2015 on the FutureLearn platform. Additional information about the course and its contributors can be found on the School website.

  The material is broken down into teaching weeks, topic-focused activities and learning steps. Individual steps are presented in a variety of different ways, and may be vehicles for delivering content, discussion opportunities, or informal assessment tasks. The material available on this page does not represent a course experience, and is intended for free, open re-use by educators.

  Course developers: Professor Judith Glynn, Megan Kill & Joanna Stroud

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    How to access downloadable material Page
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    Full course acknowledgements File
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    Your use of Ebola in Context OER URL

    A short survey around your intended use of course resources.
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  Instructions: Clicking on the section name will show / hide the section.

  

• Week 1: The epidemic

  
  

  Week 1 activities describe the Ebola virus, the course of the 2014/15 outbreak and its context, control procedures, and the principles and practices of reducing transmission.

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    Activity: Introduction

    Welcome to the course on Ebola in Context. Understand the key principles that underlie infectious disease spread, and the role of context in determining transmission and shaping the control efforts in the Ebola outbreak. Image: London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

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    Step 1.1. Welcome to the course (VIDEO) Page
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    Activity: Infection and the importance of context

    Understand what Ebola does, modes of transmission, the first outbreak, and why this outbreak is different. Image: Ebola virus by CDC Global. CC BY 2.0. / Archive newspaper article from the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp. 

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    Step 1.2. Peter Piot investigating the first outbreak (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 1.3. What is an infectious disease? Infection and modes of transmission (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 1.4 Modes of transmission (QUIZ) Page
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    Step 1.5 Ebola virus disease (ARTICLE) Page
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    Step 1.6 Where has Ebola come from? (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 1.7 Why this outbreak is different: the social and political context of the 2014 Ebola outbreak (VIDEO) Page
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    Activity: Why and when to isolate: the logic and experience of isolation

    Understand the concepts of incubation and infectious periods, when and when not to isolate or quarantine, and the realities and problems of isolation in context. Image: Catherine McGowan, CC BY 2.0.

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    Step 1.8 How Ebola is usually controlled (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 1.9 The logic behind isolation: incubation, latent and infectious periods (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 1.10 The implications of periods (QUIZ) Page
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    Step 1.11 Airport screening for Ebola and other travel restrictions (ARTICLE) Page
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    Step 1.12 Contact tracing: Theory and practice (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 1.13 Community isolation and stigma (ARTICLE) Page
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    Activity: Transmission: measuring and experiencing an epidemic

    Understand the key factors that determine the transmissibility of an infectious disease, how we measure these factors, and the consequences of a rapidly increasing epidemic. Image: Ebola web map by Simon B Johnson / OpenStreetMap.

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    Step 1.14 Epidemic curves and the spread of Ebola (ARTICLE) Page
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    Step 1.15 Calculating a serial interval (QUIZ) Page
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    Step 1.16 Gathering and disseminating information (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 1.17 Transmissibility: how do we measure infectiousness? (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 1.18 Basic case reproduction number and secondary attack rate (QUIZ) Page
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    Step 1.19 Life in areas affected by Ebola (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 1.20 Immediate health system consequences of Ebola in West Africa (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 1.21 Resistance in Guéckédou (ARTICLE) Page
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    Step 1.22 Summary (ARTICLE) Page
• Week 2: The response

  
  

  Week 2 activities cover how we can reduce the rate of transmission and the number of deaths caused by Ebola.

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    Activity: Reducing transmission: what works?

    Understand the principles of reducing effective contacts, appreciate the problems of implementing control procedures, and understand ongoing and innovative intervention strategies. Image: Catherine McGowan. CC BY 2.0.

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    Step 2.1 Learning from other outbreaks (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 2.2 Reducing transmission: the principles (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 2.3 Personal protective equipment (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 2.4 Burial practices (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 2.5 How can posters be used to teach people about Ebola? (DISCUSSION) Page
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    Step 2.6 Grassroots responses to the epidemic (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 2.7 Community Care Centres: an evolving concept (ARTICLE) Page
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    Activity: How can we reduce the deaths? Treatments and survival

    Understand how to measure case fatality rates, the limits and problems of existing treatments, and the experiences of patients and health care workers. Image: Kerry Town ETU in Sierra Leone by DFID. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

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    Step 2.8 A deadly disease: measuring case fatality rates (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 2.9 Case fatality rates (QUIZ) Page
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    Step 2.10 Suspected Ebola: the importance of confirming the diagnosis (ARTICLE) Page
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    Step 2.11 Medical and practical aspects of treatment (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 2.12 Life in an Ebola treatment centre (ARTICLE) Page
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    Step 2.13 Stigma around treatment and survival (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 2.14 Would you seek treatment? (DISCUSSION) Page
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    Step 2.15 Summary (ARTICLE) Page
• Week 3: What does the future hold?

  
  

  Activities in Week 3 look at the role of research in a crisis, potential new treatments, and the longer term impact of the epidemic.

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    Activity: Research in a crisis

    Most research on Ebola can only be done during an outbreak. Understand research priorities and the dilemmas about trials. Image: Pills by Jamie. CC BY 2.0.

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    Step 3.1 Research priorities (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 3.2 Potential new treatments (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 3.3 Should randomised controlled trials be used to evaluate new treatments? (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 3.4 Would you do a randomised controlled trial? (DISCUSSION) Page
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    Activity: Could vaccines be the answer?

    Understand how to work out the potential population level impact of a vaccine, the progress being made in vaccine development, and the issues in conducting vaccine trials. Image: Syringe and vaccine by PATH. CC BY 2.0.

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    Step 3.5 How would vaccines help? (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 3.6 Calculating vaccine efficacy and herd immunity threshold (QUIZ) Page
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    Step 3.7 Trials of vaccines: from development to community (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 3.8 Vaccines and population responses (VIDEO) Page
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    Activity: The future and the wider impact: where is the epidemic going?

    Understand how models are used, the wider, long-term impacts of the outbreak and the importance of health system strengthening. Image: six year old Ebola survivor Patrick Poopei by #ISurvived Ebola. CC BY-SA 2.0.

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    Step 3.9 Modelling the outbreak and making projections (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 3.10 Health and development effects of the Ebola outbreak (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 3.11 Strengthening health systems (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 3.12 How can we prevent this happening again? (VIDEO) Page
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    Step 3.13 Reflecting on what can be done to stop this happening again (DISCUSSION) Page
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    Activity: Summary

    Summary of the course and acknowledgements. Image: Ebola Survivors, Immune to the Disease, Sign Up to Fight Outbreak by The Speaker. CC BY 2.0.

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    Step 3.14 Summary (DISCUSSION) Page