Chronic and Infectious Disease: A Public Health Approach

Lead editor/author: Brandye Nobiling, PhD, CHES, CSE

Overview

This textbook is created for undergraduate public health students studying chronic and infectious disease. At the time of publication of this textbook, an equivalent text does not exist. There are several benefits of making an open educational resource (OER) textbook for this content, including the elimination of a textbook cost for students, the ability to update the content to keep up with scientific literature, and the interactive tools incorporating into the learning material.

Structure

This textbook consists of 11 chapters. Chapters 1-2 are foundational chapters that introduce readers to a brief history of disease in the context of public health efforts as well as many key terms used in public health. Chapters 3-8 cover various infectious diseases, and the remaining 3 chapters are dedicated to chronic diseases most responsible for morbidity and mortality in the United States. This textbook is by no means an exhaustive study of every disease known to exist, but rather a focused exploration of diseases selected due to their public health importance and impact.

How to use this book

Learning material consists of direct text as well as all hyperlinked material in each chapter. Readers will be prompted to access the hyperlinks with the phrase “click here to…” and “here” will be hyperlinked to additional readings and videos. Important vocabulary terms and phrases also highlighted. Clicking on these terms will reveal the definition and/or extra explanation.

Licensing

The entire text and original artwork is CC-BY-NC-ND