Infectious Diseases

Students are to take the information from their research and write an article for a newspaper. They will write their articles from the prospective of a doctor who has been following the progression of their assigned disease in a fictitious patient; either cholera or Ebola. The articles should be written similart to articles you would read in the paper.

The article should be written in the following format:

• An introduction of the disease researched, background information (populations effected, historical outbreaks, etc…), general data about disease (typical symptoms, progression, etc…nonspecific to the patient).

• A series of recorded visits with the patient. There should be at least three recorded "visits" with the patient, which should include the following:
1.Background data on the fictitious patient (age, gender, behaviors which may have put this individual at risk)

2. Dates of doctor visits, a daily observation (patient mood, general health, observations of symptoms etc…). This portion of the article should be written with a personal touch -- NOT just restating the information from the data sheet). The entries should progress with the disease, through recovery/maintenance.

Background Reading on INFECTIOUS DISEASE:

An infectious disease is a clinically evident illness resulting from the presence of pathogenic microbial agents, including pathogenic viruses, pathogenic bacteria, fungi, protozoa, multicellular parasites. These pathogens are able to cause disease in animals and/or plants. Infectious pathologies are also called communicable diseases or transmissible diseases due to their potential of transmission from one person or species to another.[1]
Transmission of an infectious disease may occur through one or more of diverse pathways including physical contact with infected individuals. These infecting agents may also be transmitted through liquids, food, body fluids, contaminated objects or airborne inhalation. Transmissible diseases which occur through contact with an ill person or their secretions, or objects touched by them, are especially infective, and are sometimes referred to as contagious diseases.

(Included in the lesson plan are two readings: one on the cholera outbreak in Haiti and the other about the recent outbreaks of Ebola over the past 30 years)