Final Assignment Options
Choose and complete one of the following final assignment options. You will create a website, a report, or a presentation on the option you choose. Written formats or video formats can be used for reports. Presentations can be created using any presentation editor such as Power Point, Prezi, or Keynote.
1. Select a pathogen or disease other than Ebola. Research this pathogen or disease and specifically consider how it has affected humans or other living organisms. What are the symptoms of the disease? Determine if there is a treatment or cure for the disease caused by this pathogen and how the treatment or vaccine was developed.
2. Research one of the following organizations or agencies: the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Médecins sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors without Borders), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). What does the selected organization or agency do? Where is the organization or agency based and how does the organization fund its work? What role does the organization or agency play in researching, tracking, treating, and preventing disease? How has the selected organization or agency been involved in the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak?
3. Research and identify various conditions in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone that are contributing to the widespread outbreak of Ebola. Compare and contrast these conditions to the conditions in other countries that have successfully contained Ebola cases from the same outbreak including the United States, Nigeria, Senegal, and Spain. Nigeria and Senegal have been declared Ebola free. How did they successfully contain and overcome Ebola? What did theses countries do? What conditions in the United States have allowed successful treatment of Ebola patients and containment of Ebola cases? Why have most Ebola patients in the United States been treated at specific hospitals? How can Ebola be contained and why does it remain uncontained in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone?
4. Watch the movie Outbreak or read one of the following books: Hot Zone by Richard Preston, When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics that have Invaded America Since 1900 and the Fears They have Unleashed by Howard Markel, The Coming Plague by Laurie Garret, No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses by Dr. Peter Piot. Create your website, report, or presentation on the movie or book you chose. The following questions provide some ideas that you may want to include. Is the selected resource fiction or non-fiction? How does the selected source contribute to the public's knowledge about the subject? Do you feel that the resource educates readers or does it create panic and fear? Why? Is this resource valuable or not? Does the information in the selected resource agree with or conflict with what you have learned about pathogens, diseases, or Ebola?
5. Find at least ten written news articles and ten news videos on the Ebola virus that were not used in this website. The articles and videos should be from primary or reputable sources. Using the information from the selected articles and videos, create your own news report and supporting video on important Ebola information.
6. You are a scientist working in the field in West Africa studying the Ebola virus. You are conducting interviews, tracing contacts, studying potential natural reservoirs for the virus, and performing other research. Using data and information from the WHO website, the CDC website, and the Doctors without Borders website create a field and laboratory notebook beginning with the start of the Ebola outbreak in Guinea in December 2013 and finishing with current date or the end of the outbreak. You can include different information and data such as number of cases, the death rate, the countries with Ebola cases, the affected percentage of the population in these countries, the reproduction rate, medical treatments, agencies or organizations working in the field, new developments, setbacks, and successes. Laboratory records always include dates and chronicle progress, information, and data over time. You may need to locate other resources for some data such as populations statistics for different countries.
7. Research the different impacts that the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak has had on West Africa and the rest of the world. How has it impacted trade, global travel, food and other critical supplies, education, and health care? What financial impacts have there been and who have they affected?
1. Select a pathogen or disease other than Ebola. Research this pathogen or disease and specifically consider how it has affected humans or other living organisms. What are the symptoms of the disease? Determine if there is a treatment or cure for the disease caused by this pathogen and how the treatment or vaccine was developed.
2. Research one of the following organizations or agencies: the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Médecins sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors without Borders), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). What does the selected organization or agency do? Where is the organization or agency based and how does the organization fund its work? What role does the organization or agency play in researching, tracking, treating, and preventing disease? How has the selected organization or agency been involved in the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak?
3. Research and identify various conditions in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone that are contributing to the widespread outbreak of Ebola. Compare and contrast these conditions to the conditions in other countries that have successfully contained Ebola cases from the same outbreak including the United States, Nigeria, Senegal, and Spain. Nigeria and Senegal have been declared Ebola free. How did they successfully contain and overcome Ebola? What did theses countries do? What conditions in the United States have allowed successful treatment of Ebola patients and containment of Ebola cases? Why have most Ebola patients in the United States been treated at specific hospitals? How can Ebola be contained and why does it remain uncontained in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone?
4. Watch the movie Outbreak or read one of the following books: Hot Zone by Richard Preston, When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics that have Invaded America Since 1900 and the Fears They have Unleashed by Howard Markel, The Coming Plague by Laurie Garret, No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses by Dr. Peter Piot. Create your website, report, or presentation on the movie or book you chose. The following questions provide some ideas that you may want to include. Is the selected resource fiction or non-fiction? How does the selected source contribute to the public's knowledge about the subject? Do you feel that the resource educates readers or does it create panic and fear? Why? Is this resource valuable or not? Does the information in the selected resource agree with or conflict with what you have learned about pathogens, diseases, or Ebola?
5. Find at least ten written news articles and ten news videos on the Ebola virus that were not used in this website. The articles and videos should be from primary or reputable sources. Using the information from the selected articles and videos, create your own news report and supporting video on important Ebola information.
6. You are a scientist working in the field in West Africa studying the Ebola virus. You are conducting interviews, tracing contacts, studying potential natural reservoirs for the virus, and performing other research. Using data and information from the WHO website, the CDC website, and the Doctors without Borders website create a field and laboratory notebook beginning with the start of the Ebola outbreak in Guinea in December 2013 and finishing with current date or the end of the outbreak. You can include different information and data such as number of cases, the death rate, the countries with Ebola cases, the affected percentage of the population in these countries, the reproduction rate, medical treatments, agencies or organizations working in the field, new developments, setbacks, and successes. Laboratory records always include dates and chronicle progress, information, and data over time. You may need to locate other resources for some data such as populations statistics for different countries.
7. Research the different impacts that the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak has had on West Africa and the rest of the world. How has it impacted trade, global travel, food and other critical supplies, education, and health care? What financial impacts have there been and who have they affected?