MFA: A WEB APPLICATION USING ART FOR TEACHING RESPIRATORY INFECTIOUS DISEASES IN VETERINARY

Infectious Diseases of Animals are central in the curriculum of Veterinary and other Health Sciences in Higher Education because of their frequency and the importance of their impact on health and welfare of animal and human populations. Its contents are basic for other subjects, such as Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Zoonoses, and Food Hygiene.

MFA (“Me Falta el Aire”/ I can´t breathe) is an application for Infectious Diseases teaching in Veterinary Grade created by a multidisciplinary team of Art, Computer Science and Veterinary teachers based on an artistic presentation of histological images under an interactive web design. Understanding of development and evolution of histological lesions in infectious diseases is useful to understand the natural history of the disease. Natural history of the disease is the evolution of the disease since the exposure to the infectious agent to the end of the disease by the death or recovery of the patient. Histological images have been selected to represent chronological events in the development of the disease according to scientific and technical criteria and have been worked on to reinforce their plastic and artistic presentation, to evoke emotions and to stimulate visual thinking strategies of students.

The group of Respiratory Infectious Diseases of Ruminants has been selected to create this application under the suggestive title of “Me Falta el Aire” (I can´t breathe). Lungs are the organs responsible for gaseous exchange between blood and air, that is, the physiological process essential for life called breathing. Respiratory infectious diseases are characterized by the development of histological lesions in lungs which impede respiration. Lung alteration consequences are within a wide range from a lower weight gain of young animals to the death of the animals. MFA is an interactive application that uses an artistic presentation of histological images to explain to and involve students in pathologic processes of respiratory infectious diseases of ruminants.