INSTRUCTOR: Pascal Gagneux Ph.D. (Professor, Departments of Pathology and Anthropology)
GOAL:
The course will explore the major epidemiological transitions from ape-like ancestors to foraging tribes, farmers and pastoralists, to the global metropolitan primate we now are. We will focus on how diseases have shaped humans and how humans have shaped disease over time.
FORMAT: 1 hour 20 minute Lectures
READING: Review article or book chapter.
PDF of each reading are posted on the course webpage and will be sent to each student via e-mail in advance of each class
Each student is expected to submit a question about the reading by 10 am the day of the class.
DAY: Tuesdays and Thursdays
TIME: 2:00 pm to 3:20 pm
LOCATION: PCYNH 109 (Pepper Canyon Hall)
EXAMS: A) Midterm, multiple choice, 1 hour on MAY 6.
B) Final: two hours, multiple choice & simple sentence replies to questions,
June 10 (Tuesday)
3:00 am to 5:59 pm. in Pepper Canyon Hall 109
GRADES: Grades will be based on reading questions submitted (25%), and Midterm (25%) and Final exam (50%)
performances.
Extra Credit opportunities: There will be extra credit questions in both, the Midterm and the Final.
Attendance in the virtual CARTA Symposium on Mismatch: Human Origins and Modern Disease will provide opportunity for further extra-credit.
HONESTY: This course does not tolerate academic dishonesty and follows UCSD policy on this matter. For more information
see below.
OFFICE
HOURS: Friday 1pm to 3pm at my CARTA office :
CLASSES:
TUE, APRIL 1
Lecture 1: What is disease and how sick are we?
Causes of sickness and mortality, unrealized potential, under and over-nourished, stunted, polluted, poisoned, mentally
traumatized, culturally deprived etc. Obesity from status symbol to disease
Disease now: heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease (COPD), diabetes type 2, influenza/pneumonia, Alzheimers, traffic
accidents, renal failure, septicemia, gun violence
READING: no reading for first lecture.
THU, APRIL 3
Lecture 2: From the inside or from the outside (Virchow vs Pasteur/Koch)
Theories on the origin of maladies. The germ theory vs Virchow’s inner balance/ cell driven disease. Humors, Qi, Bingdu, Krimi
and Miasmas…….Malaria, Plague and leprosy.
READING: Evolutionary Medicine, 2024 Stearns and Medzhitov, 2nd Edition. Chapter 1: Evolutionary Thinking, p 3 -20.
TUE, APRIL 8
Lecture 3: Immunity and immune system & the cost of an effective defense
Evolved defenses of longer-lived, multicellular hosts. Life-saving reactions and life threatening over-reactions. Harnessing
immunity for prevention and cure.
READING: Evolutionary Medicine, 2024, Stearns and Medzhitov, 2nd Edition. Chapter 2: Mismatch, p 23 to p 44.
THU, APRIL 10
Lecture 4: Host-pathogen co-evolution
Arms races and truces between hosts and their pathogens and parasites. Foes become symbionts and symbionts can become
foes.
READING: Evolutionary Medicine, 2024, Stearns and Medzhitov, 2nd Edition. Chapter 5, part 2 What is an ill person? p 85-
115.
TUE, APRIL 15
Lecture 5 (Hu)Man-made diseases & iatrogenic disease
Ways of life and cultural practices can create disease. Humans can culturally define/invent diseases. Pellagra, HCV along Nile,
Puerperal fever, Toxic shock syndrome, Medication over- and misuse, drug abuse DES (diethylstilbestrol) daughters.
READING: Evolutionary Medicine, 2024, Stearns and Medzhitov, 2nd Edition. Chapter 3: A system Perspective on Health
and Disease, p 49- 69.
THU, APRIL 17
Lecture 6: Eco-Health/ Emerging diseases
Human encroachment on and disruption of wild ecosystems generates novel diseases. The latest epidemiological Transition?
READING: Evolutionary Medicine, 2024, Stearns and Medzhitov, 2nd Edition. Chapter 4: Traxde-offs. p 71-83.
TUE, APRIL 22
Lecture 7: The emperor of all maladies (Cancer)
If you have more than one cell, you might get cancer. Cancer perfectly combines nature and nurture.
READING: 1. Evolutionary Medicine, 2024, Stearns and Medzhitov, 2nd Edition. Chapter 6: What is a Disease? p 119- 132.
2. The Puzzling Origins of AIDS. 2004. James J. Moore Sci. American
THU, APRIL 24
Lecture 8: Reconstructing past disease, Major epidemiological transitions
Paleopathology: how much can we find out about diseases in the distant past?
READING: The Changing Disease Scape in the Third Epidemiological Transition. 2010. Kristin Harper and George
Armelagos Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health
TUE, APRIL 29
Lecture 9: The three smokes
How exposure to environmental, indoor and tobacco smoke kills
READING: Evolutionary Medicine, 2024, Stearns and Medzhitov, 2nd Edition. Chapter 7: Defenses p 133-163.
THU, MAY 1
Lecture 10: Domesticating Viruses
Endogenous retroviruses, jumping genes, transposons and how molecular parasites can become useful
READING: Evolutionary Medicine, 2024, Stearns and Medzhitov, 2nd Edition. Chapter 9: Pathogens I p187 -206.
TUE, MAY 6 MIDTERM (one hour, in person)
READING: No reading
THU MAY 8
Lecture 11: Disease as a weapon, unintentional and intentional
Humans have inadvertently and intentionally used disease as a powerful weapon.
READING: 1.Evolutionary Medicine, 2024, Stearns and Medzhitov, 2nd Edition. Chapter 10: Pathogens II, p 211-229
2.History of biological warfare and bioterrorism. 2014. Barras and Greub, Clinical Microbiology and Infection
TUE, MAY 13
Lecture 12: Diseases of other primates & Domesticated disease? Endogenous retroviruses,
transposons etc.
What diseases do our closer and more distant evolutionary relatives suffer from?
READING: Primates and the Ecology of Their Infectious Diseases: How will Anthropogenic Change Affect Host-Parasite Interactions? 2005. Chapman et al. Evolutionary Anthropology.
THU, MAY 15
Lecture 13: Reproductive disease
Evolution acts mostly on differential reproduction. What are reproductive diseases?
READING: Evolutionary Medicine, 2024, Stearns and Medzhitov, 2nd Edition. Chapter 13: Reproductive Disease, p277-305.
TUE, MAY 20
Lecture 14: Cultural attitudes to disease
Attempts to make sense of disease. From blaming the victim to patient-interest groups. How culture, technology and commerce
can become a viruses’ best friends.
READING: The Anthropology of Infectious Disease. 1990. Inhorn and Brown. Ann. Rev. Anthropol.
THU, MAY 22
Lecture 15: Affluenza and SESitis?
Do modern humans suffer from microbe deficit disorder. How socio-economic status (SES), affluence or poverty can make you
sick.
READING: Sick of Poverty/ 2005 Robert Sapolski. Scientific American.
TUE, MAY 27
Lecture 16: The mind/brain, our most fail-prone organ?
No other organ has such a high failure rate as the human brain. How costly is our most unusual organ?
READING: Evolutionary Medicine, 2024, Stearns and Medzhitov, 2nd Edition. Chapter 14: Mental health disorders, p 309-
323.
THU, MAY 29
Lecture 17: Violence as an infectious disease.
Diseased behavior? Can societies have diseases? Epidemics of suicide?
READING: The Transmission of Gun and Other Weapon-Involved Violence Within Social
Networks, 2016 Tracy et al. Epidemiologic Reviews
TUE, JUN 3
Lecture 18: Diet and Disease
How we humans are eating ourselves sick
READING: Evolutionary Medicine, 2024, Stearns and Medzhitov, 2nd Edition. Chapter 11, p 231 -252
THU, JUN 5
Lecture 19: Healthy living?
Are we "Homo pathogenic et therapeuticus? Creating our own diseases and cures?
READING: Corbett, S., Courtiol, A., Lummaa, V. et al. The transition to modernity and chronic disease: mismatch and natural
selection. Nat Rev Genet 19, 419–430 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41576-018-0012-3
FRIDAY, JUN 13 11:30 am to 2:29 pm
Final exam
in person
Statement on Academic Integrity:
“Academic Integrity is expected of everyone at UC San Diego. This means that you must be honest, fair, responsible, respectful, and trustworthy in all of your actions. Lying, cheating or any other forms of dishonesty will not be tolerated because they undermine learning and the University’s ability to certify students’ knowledge and abilities. Thus, any attempt to get, or help another get, a grade by cheating, lying or dishonesty will be reported to the Academic Integrity Office and will result sanctions. Sanctions can include an F in this class and suspension or dismissal from the University. So, think carefully before you act. Before you act ask yourself the following questions: a) is my action honest, fair, respectful, responsible & trustworthy and, b) is my action authorized by the instructor? If you are unsure, don’t ask a friend—ask your instructor, instructional assistant, or the Academic Integrity Office. You can learn more about academic integrity at academicintegrity.ucsd.edu” (Source: Tricia Bertram Gallant, Ph.D., UCSD Academic Integrity Office, 2017)
