Overview

In this unit, students will examine the relationship between pathogens, hosts and the environment and the various public health and environmental systems for preventing and controlling the transmission of communicable diseases.

Requisites

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
04-August-2025
02-November-2025
Last self-enrolment date
17-August-2025
Census date
31-August-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
19-September-2025
Results released date
09-December-2025

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Examine the role of immunisation in managing communicable diseases from the Australian and global perspectives
  • Interpret how host-pathogen interactions and environmental factors influence the transmission of communicable diseases
  • Critique the role of public health disease surveillance and epidemiological techniques in the investigation of communicable disease outbreaks
  • Differentiate the public health and environmental systems for preventing and controlling communicable diseases in Australia
  • Categorise the major emergence factors that contribute to the spread of new communicable diseases

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Live Online
Lecture		 2.00  12 weeks  24
On Campus
Class		 1.00  12 weeks  12
Specified Activities
Various		 2.00  12 weeks  24
Unspecified Activities 
Various		 7.50  12 weeks  90
TOTAL     150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Assignment 1 Group 15 - 25%  1,2,4
Assignment 2 Individual  15 - 25%  3,4
Assignment 3 Individual  25 - 40% 1,2,3,4,5
Mid-Semester Test Individual  20 - 30%  1,2 

Content

  • The immune system
  • Vaccines and vaccine-preventable diseases
  • Immunisation requirements and procedures in Australia
  • Social determinants of health and vaccination
  • Principles of epidemiology and outbreak investigation
  • Communicable disease surveillance
  • Public health legislation and notifiable diseases
  • Principles of infection control in skin penetration premises
  • Emerging communicable diseases

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.