What is a virus? What is the origin of AIDS? What is the relationship between viruses and mosquitoes? These and other questions are addressed in"Pandemics, new viral infections", an open online course (MOOC, Massive Online Open Course), organized by the School of Sciences of the University of Navarra. It is a free program aimed at students in the following areas high school diplomastudents, first years of Degree, secondary school teachers and high school diplomajournalists and science communicators, and the general public. 

"We are already used to news about the emergence of new viruses: the current Ebola outbreak, avian and swine flu viruses, dengue cases in southern Europe, coronaviruses in the Middle East, West Nile virus in the USA, ... but why do new viral infections emerge? What are emerging viruses and what factors influence their emergence?". This course addresses what viruses look like and how to control them. "Answering these and many other current questions in a scientific but very informative language," explained Professor Ignacio López-Goñi, in charge of the program.

The course consists of seven units and is part of the MOOCs offered by the University of Navarra. They require from 8 to 12 hours of dedication from student distributed between 2 and 4 weeks. Once completed, the student can apply for if desired a certificate accrediting its completion.