Big Idea Thesis
By Kazia
&
Victoria
Introduction: Infectious diseases have been a global problem for centuries. The public has had problems protecting themselves from deadly outbreaks and there is information that can help them fight against these infectious diseases. Infectious diseases are caused by micro-organisms such as viruses, protests, and bacteria. Micro-organisms can be helpful or harmful. They can cause the flu, malaria, and other diseases. Over time scientists have contributed to the germ theory, giving new ideas and inventions to the field of science. These contributions have helped people fight infectious diseases.
Transmission 30, 31: Infectious diseases can be transmitted from person to person. They can spread quickly over a population and eventually people will get better or die out. The flu virus can spread through the mouth, nose, eyes, ears, open cuts, and invade you throat. Once they invade, the viruses start to multiply. Your body responds in different ways as the immune system fights the viruses. T-cells in the body have a specific job to fight the invaders. Anti-bodies also attach to viruses and disables it. The body can also respond with fevers and chills. Infectious diseases are preventable.
Carriers & Vectors: 32, 33: Carrier are people or animals that transmit disease without having symptoms. Vectors are organisms other then people that can spread disease. Vectors include fleas, mosquitoes, and rats. Epidemologist (scientists who trace diseases through populations/communities) educated people and targeted the cause of diseases, and lowered the spread of diseases such as the bubonic plaque.
Public Behavior & History 34, 37: People often treat people with diseases as outcast. Society isolated them or feared them. Overtime many scientists contributed to a theory called germ theory. They also invented the microscope that led to new discoveries. They discovered ways to defend against harmful microbes and were some of the first to suggest the idea that microbes caused disease.
Eucaryotic Cells 39, 38, 40: Like all cells, eucaryotic cells are living organisms that respire (cellular respiration). In activity 38 Eukaryotic: Animal and Eukaryotic: Plant we learned about the different eukaryotic cells and their organelles. We drew pictures of each cell and labeled the picture with the function of each part. They include human cells, plant cells, and protists. Eukaryotic cells have similar structures and organelles to keep them alive. They all have a nucleus, cytoplasm, a cell membrane, ribosomes, lysosomes, golgi complex, and mitochondria. The nucleus contains the cell’s DNA and is the control center of the cell. The cytoplasm fills the cell and is where organelles reside. The cell membrane protects cells from their environment and allows certain materials to permeate it. Eucaryotic cells have also developed ways to transport proteins.
Procaryotic Cells 45: Procaryotic cells have simple structures, no organelles, do not have a nucleus, and the cytoplasm does not have much structure. Procaryotic cells include viruses and bacteria. Viruses are single celled, can not replicate or metabolize outside a host, has a DNA/RNA core, and a protein coat to protect the core. Sometimes they have an envelope to help the virus invade hosts. Bacteria have no organelles and only have ribososomes, a cell wall, and a cell membrane. It is single celled and can cause disease or be helpful, like breaking down cellulose.
Podcast Overview: In our podcast project we learned about the cause of a disease, how the disease was transmitted, background information, symptoms, treatment options, prevention, and how the disease was a global issue. We learned about the diseases and created a podcast to relay the information about our disease in a creative way. Our disease, malaria, was caused by four different parasites which are protists. It decreased many populations in the past and is a disease spread by an infected female Anopheles mosquito. It can also be transmitted through blood transfusion, organ transplant, or shared use of needles or syringes infected with blood. Some symptoms are shaking chills, headaches, muscle aches, tiredness, nausea, and vomiting. It has no current vaccine but the parasites can be eliminated by prescription drugs. It can be prevent by avoiding mosquito areas, keeping them from biting you with bed nets and sprays, and taking anti-malarial drugs. More then 41% of the world’s populations is at risk and is one of the most severe public health problems worldwide.
Conclusion: Microbes can cause infectious diseases that affect the world globally. The public has had problems protecting themselves from deadly outbreaks and there is information that can help them fight against these infectious diseases. Diseases can break down the structure and functions of living organisms. Infectious diseases can be transmitted from person to person and by carries and vectors. They can cause symptoms, but there are treatment options to help cure or treat them. There are also many prevention methods from contracting diseases. There are also two different types of cells; procaryotic and eucaryotic. Both have structures to help them survive. Microbes that fall in these two categories.
