Master's Degree in Tropical Neurology and Infectious Diseases
Introduction to Tropical Neurology
Epidemiology and basic techniques for studying infectious and tropical diseases
Module 1.- Tropical Epidemiology
- Introduction. History of Neurology and Tropical Medicine.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Michel Dumas and Marcelo Cruz. - Epidemiology of tropical diseases and their impact on the central nervous system (CNS). Geographical differences between the areas of Latin America and south-east Asia. Neglected diseases. Action programmes – World Health Organisation. Classification. Pathology of infections of the CNS caused by parasites. New emerging diseases.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): José Muñoz. - Impact of diseases imported into developed countries. Fever in returnees.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Quim Gascón
Module 2. - Introduction to neurovirology and neuroparasitology
- Neurovirology. Methods for the isolation and direct detection of new virus.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Mari Paz Sánchez Seco. - Introduction to microbiology. Cultures and bacterial immunodiagnostic techniques. Basic neuroimmunology and serological studies in cerebrospinal fluid.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Germán Seseña. - Diagnostic techniques in Parasitology. Immunodiagnosis of parasitic diseases.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): J. Van Hellemond.
Viral Infections of the central nervous system
Module 3.- Meningoencephalitis of viral origin
- Epidemiology of viral meningoencephalitis at a global level. Aetiology of viral meningitis imported into Europe and developed countries. Encephalitis due to Arbovirus, Flavivirus and emerging virus. Equine encephalitis. Lassa fever. Viral haemorrhagic fevers.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Fernando de Ory. - Diagnosis and treatment of viral meningoencephalitis. Neurological complications arising from infection by West Nile virus.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): JC García-Moncó. - Neurological complications arising from herpes virus. Viral encephalitis due to herpes simplex and varicella zoster virus. Neurological complications arising from infection by West Nile virus.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): J.P. Stahl. - Dengue. Neurological complications arising from the dengue virus.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Ole Wichman. - Japanese encephalitis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Mari Paz Sánchez. - Epidemiology of rabies worldwide, transmission cycle of rabies and lyssavirus diagnostic techniques.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Florence Ribadeu-Dumas - History of rabies. Neurological and neuropsychiatric manifestations of rabies. Neurological diagnosis and treatment.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Juan Gómez Alonso - Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): R.K. Garg.
Module 4.- Neurological complications arising from HIV infection
- Aseptic meningitis. CIDP. Polyneuropathy and multiple mononeuropathy. Myopathy due to HIV. Vacuolar myelopathy. HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder. CNS immune reconstitution syndrome.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Marcelo Corti and Maria F. Villafañe. - Introduction to opportunistic infections of the CNS within the context of HIV infection: cryptococcosis, CNS lymphoma, toxoplasmosis, encephalitis and radiculitis due to CMV, varicella zoster and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in AIDS.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Marcelo Corti. - Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Diego Cadavid.
Module 5.- Viral myelopathies
- Acute poliomyelitis and post-polio syndrome. Acute myelopathies due to enterovirus and other virus, with the exception of HIV.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Francisco Javier Carod-Artal. - Tropical spastic paraparesis / myelopathy associated to the HTLV-I virus.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Ana Treviño.
Bacterial infections of the CNS
Module 6.- Acute meningoencephalitis of a non-viral origin
- Acute bacterial meningitis. Diagnosis and therapeutic update.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): JC García -Moncó. - Eosinophilic meningitis. Classification, aetiology and differential diagnosis. Neurological complications arising from amoebiasis. Granulomatous encephalitis due to free-living amoebae.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): MJ Pinazo.
Module 7.- Chronic meningitis and CNS abscesses
- Neurotuberculosis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): José M. Miro and Christian Manzardo. - Neurosyphilis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Miguel Angel Conde Sendin. - Neurobrucellosis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): José Ramón Ara. - Neuro-Lyme.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): JC García Moncó. - Brain abscess. Spinal epidural abscess. Subdural empyema. Arachnoiditis, aetiology and development.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Jeyaraj Pandian.
Infections by Protozo
Module 8.- Neurological complications of malaria
- Malaria. Cerebral malaria. Epilepsy after cerebral malaria.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Quique Bassat.
Module 9.- Neurological complications of American trypanosomiasis or Chagas disease
- Acute meningoencephalitis. Brain chagoma. Chagas-related stroke.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Francisco Javier Carod-Artal.
Module 10.- Other infections of the CNS caused by protozoa
- African trypanosomiasis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Courtioux B. and Bisser S. - Cerebral toxoplasmosis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): José M. Miro and Míriam Álvarez.
Helminthiasis
Module 11.- Neurological complications arising from helminthiasis (I). Neuroschistosomiasis
- Cerebral and medullar neuroschistosomiasis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Francisco Javier Carod-Artal.
Module 12.- Neurocysticercosis
- Cerebral, ocular and spinal neurocysticercosis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Oscar del Brutto. -
Neurological complications of echinococcosis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Thomas Junghanss.
Slow infections. CNS Mycosis. Prion Diseases
Module 13.- Mycosis of the central nervous system
- Mucormycosis. Cryptococcosis. Coccidioidomycosis. Aspergillosis. Other fungal infections of the CNS. Update on diagnosis and treatment. Histoplasmosis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Livio Pagano.
Module 14.- Prion diseases
- Kuru. Creutzfeldt-Jakob. Epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Juan José Zarranz
Particularities of neurological diseases in tropical regions
Module 15.- Epilepsy in the tropics
- Epidemiology. Aetiology, diagnosis and treatment.
Lecturer/Professor: P.M.Preux.
Module 16.- Particularities of stroke in tropical regions
- Strokes in the tropics. Other causes of strokes. Takayasu.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Ayrton Massaro. - Septic cerebral venous thrombosis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Jose Ferro. - Subacute endocarditis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Andreas Hartmann.
Module 17.- Dementia in tropical regions
- Epidemiology, aetiology and socio-demographic changes in dementias. Ageing and the impact of dementia at a global level and in developing countries.
Module 18.- Multiple sclerosis at a global level and in tropical regions
- Diagnostic criteria and therapeutic update. Variants of multiple sclerosis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Oscar Fernández. - Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. Haemorrhagic leukoencephalitis. Optic neuritis. Neuromyelitis optica, Devic and opticospinal syndromes.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Inmaculada Bonaventura Ibars. - Neurological manifestations of autoimmune diseases; differential diagnosis MS. Neurosarcoidosis.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Celia Oreja-Guevara.
Module 19.- Post-infectious movement disorders
- Post-encephalitic Parkinsonism. Sydenham's chorea.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Juan Carlos Martínez Castrillo and Iñigo Corral Corral.
Module 20.- Neuropathies and myopathies caused by infections
- Peripheral neuropathies caused by infection. Neuropathic leprosy.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Eduardo Gutiérrez Rivas. - Polymyositis. Inflammatory myopathies due to infectious and post-infectious causes.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Eduardo Gutiérrez Rivas.
Module 21.- Tropical neuro-ophthalmology
- Tropical diseases that cause ocular disorders.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Spinello Antinori.
Tropical Neurotoxicology
Module 22.- Neurotoxic and deficiency syndromes of the CNS in the tropics
- Deficiencies and nutritional syndromes in tropical regions that give rise to disorders in the CNS. Konzo. Lathyrism.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): J. Llorens. - Neurotoxic syndromes.
Bacterial toxins: Tetanus. Botulism.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Germán Seseña.Poisons from spiders.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Oscar Del Brutto.Poisons from snakes.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Germán Seseña.Marine neurotoxins.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): M. Arias.Neurotoxic plants and neurotoxic syndromes caused by seeds, plants and fungi.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Francisco Javier Carod-Artal.Organophosphates. Heavy metals.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): M. Arias.
Module 23.- Mental disease in tropical regions
- Mental disease in tropical regions.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Blanca Bolea. - Transcultural studies in Neurology.
Lecturer(s)/Professor(s): Francisco Javier Carod-Artal. - Social determinants of Mental Health in developing countries.
Professor: Sabine Bährer-Kohler
Final Project
Students will be required to submit a Final Master’s Degree Project consisting of researching and writing a scientific assignment related to Tropical Neurology. The following options will be available: clinical review of a pathology, systematic review and/or meta-analysis of a particular disease or therapy, a clinical research paper or a series of Tropical Neurology cases. Publication in a biomedical journal indexed in Medline will be an additional stimulus and goal, and will be considered a merit when it comes to evaluating or assessing the practical work that has been carried out. The Final Master’s Degree Project will be supervised by the Director or by one of the lecturers/Lecturer(s)/Professor(s)s giving the course.
The International Master's Degree in Tropical Neurology has the folloeing academic structure:
Theoretical
46 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System)
Final Master Project
14 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System)
Míriam Álvarez Martínez
Spinello Antinori
José Ramón Ara
Manuel Arias
Sabine Bährer-Kohler
Quique Bassat
Sylvie Bisser
Blanca Bolea
Inmaculada Bonaventura Ibars
Diego Cadavid
Francisco Javier Carod-Artal
Miguel Angel Conde Sendin
Iñigo Corral Corral
Marcelo Corti
Bertrand Courtioux
Marcelo Cruz
Oscar del Brutto
Víctor J. del Brutto
Fernando de Ory
Michel Dumas
Oscar Fernández
Jose Ferro
Juan Carlos García-Moncó
Ravindra Kumar Garg
Joaquim Gascón
Juan Gómez Alonso
Eduardo Gutiérrez Rivas
Andreas Hartmann
Jaap Van Hellemond
Thomas Junghanss
Jordi Llorens
Christian Manzardo
Juan Carlos Martínez Castrillo
Ayrton Massaro
José M. Miro
José Muñoz
Celia Oreja-Guevara
Livio Pagano
María Jesús Pinazo
Jeyaraj Pandian
Pierre Marie Preux
Florence Ribadeau-Dumas
Mari Paz Sánchez Seco
Germán Seseña del Olmo
Jean Paul Stahl
Ana Treviño
María F. Villafañe
Ole Wichman
Juan José Zarranz
José Fernando Gómez Montes
Methodology
- Totally online, permanently interactive course.
- Includes educational materials, tutorials and academic guidance of exercises, in addition to ongoing monitoring.
- 52 weeks of class, which altogether will be worth 60 ECTS credits (46 theory + 16 for the compulsory final project).
- During the weeks devoted to each unit, students will be able to consult the lecturer or lecturers responsible for tutoring that unit.
- Students will have to take an exam to evaluate each of the units. The exam will consist in a series of multiple choice questions that will be answered using the online platform.
Assessment
- Assessment of the Master's Course will be based on multiple choice questions for each of the units in the course and on the grade obtained in the final project.
