ghhs unit 3
UNIT TWO: THE WORLD’S DEADLIEST ANIMAL
| UNIT 3 LEARNING OBJECTIVES: – Identify mosquito-bourne diseases – Formulate epi-triads – Explain how mosquito-borne diseases spread globally – Describe the global burden of, and main strategies to address, malaria |
ACTIVITY 1: What’s the World’s Deadliest Animal?
Step 1. Have your group make a list of the animals they think kill the most humans each year.
Step 2. Click on the image below and check your list. Were you close?
Step 3. Discuss how the public understands risks and how can we better communicate real health hazards.
If they are so deadly…. why don’t we kill them all? Check out the following video by SciShow.
ACTIVITY 2: What’s Killing So Many People?
Does your group know what diseases mosquitos carry? What diseases are responsible for huge death toll attributed to mosquitos?
Step 1. Discuss the diseases that you think are spread by mosquitos.
Step 2. Review the slides below to see if you were able to identify all the diseases mosquitos spread.
Step 3. Discuss your risks. Do mosquitos spread diseases in your communities? Could it be a bigger problem in the future? Why? How could climate change impact these diseases?
ACTIVITY 3: Mosquitos as Vector in the Triad of Disease
As we learned above, mosquitos carry more than just malaria and there are many different types of mosquitos. When suddenly a mosquito-borne disease breaks out in a new place in the world we have to figure out why and how to stop it. Disease investigators have developed the Epidemiologic Triangle to break down the various determinants of how a disease spreads. These include the Agent (the actual disease/pathogen), the Environment (where the disease exists or emerges from), the Host (the person or people who get infected with the disease), and the Vector (the mechanism through which the disease get into the person). The mission of public health is to break at least on of these connections and stop the continuation of disease.
Below are images that can be ordered in order to make the epidemiological pyramid for 7 diseases. Can you put the pieces in order to have them make sense?
Step 1. Click through the images to make the malaria disease pyramid.
Step 2. Got it? Great, now that you have identified the different elements discuss what can be done to prevent malaria for each factor. For example, what can be done to address the agent? (e.g. drugs/vaccine), environment? host? vector?
Step 3. Now make the pyramid for other diseases in the image deck! The pyramid can work for both infectious and non-communicable diseases!
Women and children
Rabid dog
How is the environment at your school? You can undertake a Mosquito Control Sweep at your School! Check to make sure there is no stagnant water anywhere on campus. Are there fountains that are not functioning? Is rainwater pooling anywhere? Empty buckets, flower containers or equipment holding water? We can all help make sure mosquitos don’t spread disease by making sure the environments we live in are not helping mosquitos reproduce!
Activity 4: Yikes! Outbreak!!
In 2007, there was suddenly an outbreak of chikungunya, an Aedes aegypti mosquito-borne disease we learned about above, in Italy where it had never existed before. Look at the map below. Discuss how you think an outbreak occurred. Use the prompt below the image to help you.
– First, think about what was required in Italy for chikungunya to spread….
– Second, think about how the vector, Asian tiger mosquito, got to Italy….
– Third, think about how the agent, chikungunya, reached Italy….
– Fourth, click on the next image to get an explanation for the outbreak!
