AD2VHN: Veterinary Health and Disease

Module code: AD2VHN

Module provider: School of Agriculture, Policy and Development

Credits: 20

Level: Level 2 (Intermediate)

When you'll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Kate Johnson, email: k.f.johnson@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Dr Kirsty Kliem, email: k.e.kliem@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 20 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

How do we keep animals in the best possible health? Animals in our care depend on us to ensure their health by managing the environment, minimising pathogens, and maximising animal defences. Students will develop and enhance fundamental knowledge in animal health biology, including immunology and epidemiology, develop understanding of evidence-based approaches to evaluate a range of animal health and disease challenges, systematically evaluate animal health risks and propose appropriate disease management strategies. Examples of diseases in domestic species are utilised throughout, and the module culminates in a mini-symposium on animal health with guest speakers contributing to explain the practicalities of how the UK caries out disease surveillance and how businesses contribute to vaccine development and health management.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Explain and evaluate the underlying concepts and principles of contagious disease epidemiology, and apply those principles to selected examples of important contagious diseases in domestic species
2. Explain and evaluate, using evidence from the peer reviewed literature how animals respond to and recover from disease, including the intrinsic (immunology) and extrinsic factors (antimicrobials)
3. Critically evaluate the risks for animal diseases influenced by human management and apply this knowledge to plan animal management strategies to minimise ill health
4. Critically evaluate methods for preventing or controlling animal diseases and create evidence-based plans for disease prevention

Module content

Topics covered will include:

• Immunology
• Epidemiology
• Infectious and non-communicable diseases – with case study/examples in the domestic species
• Impact of animal management decisions on animal health
• Disease control/management and health planning, including practical teaching of disease scoring
• One Health, with an introduction to antimicrobial resistance and zoonoses

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Weekly lectures will be supplemented by some practical teaching and also weekly peer assisted learning sessions.

The course will end with an animal health and disease mini-symposium, with external speakers invited to present current work and career opportunities – depending on availability a different range of speakers may be present (in person or virtually) and students can get involved in organising/inviting speakers so that the symposium can be shaped by their interests. Students will present their posters at the mini-symposium.

Study hours

At least 50 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Reassessment

Additional costs