Overview

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Academic contacts

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Offerings

MURDOCH-S1-FACE2FACE-2025-ONGOING

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Other learning activities

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Learning activities

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Learning outcomes

1.

Apply and communicate knowledge of the processes in animal diseases, including principal responses of the body and tissues to injury

2.

Demonstrate proficiency in technical skills for identifying and describing disease processes in animals

3.

Apply knowledge to solve and manage problems associated with disease processes in animals in the context of planning disease investigation, animal management and care, promoting animal health and public health in the context of sustainable food and fibre production 

4.

Demonstrate professional practice through compliance with relevant policies for the university

Assessments

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Additional information

Unit content:

Pathology is the study of disease at its most fundamental level. Knowledge of diseases and understanding of disease processes are crucial to the diagnosis and treatment of disease (medicine), and for developing preventative animal health programs.

All individuals working in the Biological Sciences can benefit from a basic understanding of pathological processes. An ability to recognise a “departure from normality” and understand pathological processes assists the scientist to design and interpret research and understand implications.

Understanding of the mechanisms of disease also underpins formation and implementation of public health strategies, occupational health and safety regulations, biosecurity policy and other areas where an understanding of interactions between the body and environmental conditions is important.

There are 9 broad categories of pathological processes:

  1. Circulatory Disturbances
  2. Acute Inflammation
  3. Healing and Repair
  4. Chronic Inflammation
  5. Cell Death, Necrosis and Calcification
  6. Adaptive Tissue Responses
  7. Storage diseases, Pigments and Infiltrates
  8. Neoplasia
  9. Teratology 

The core concepts for each of these pathological processes will be reviewed in the core lecture series, workshops and seminars with the aim of providing you with an understanding of how and why these mechanisms of disease occur. This will enable you to both predict how the body will respond to a disease-causing agent and determine the likely cause(s) of disease.

In this unit, we will be focussing on animal pathology with a focus on domestic animals (including livestock and companion animals). The lectures will use examples of disease in a variety of animals (including humans), whilst workshops and seminars will focus on domestic animals with reference to how core concepts apply to wildlife and disease.