Miscellaneous
{{group_header}}

STEM : Stop the Spread

Investigate a communicable disease

Animal and insect bites

map of the world where mosquitoes spread dengue fever

World map showing areas infested with mosquitoes carrying dengue fever.

Facts about Dengue Fever [World map]. (2007). Tribune Content Agency Graphics. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CT3294260378/SUIC?u=61_alls&sid=SUIC&xid=d500218a


 

Logo for Encyclopedia Britannica

Click the link above to be taken to Encyclopedia Britannica and choose Middle School.

Search term - dengue fever

Level 3

Aedes aegypti mosquito, a carrier of yellow fever and dengue.

"Dengue, also called breakbone fever or dandy fever, acute infectious mosquito-borne fever that is temporarily incapacitating but rarely fatal. Besides fever, the disease is characterized by an extreme pain in and stiffness of the joints (hence the name “breakbone fever”). Complication of dengue fever can give rise to a more severe form, called dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), which is characterized by hemorrhaging blood vessels and thus bleeding from the nose, mouth, and internal tissues. Untreated DHF may result in blood vessel collapse, causing a usually fatal condition known as dengue shock syndrome. Dengue is caused by one of four viral serotypes (closely related viruses), designated DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4. These serotypes are members of the Flavivirus genus, which also contains the viruses that cause yellow fever, and can occur in any country where the carrier mosquitoes breed..."

READ MORE

Dengue. (2021). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://school.eb.com.au/levels/middle/article/dengue/29928

Image: Aedes aegypti mosquito. [image]. In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://school.eb.com.au/levels/middle/assembly/view/116888


 

Gale high school logo banner

Level 3

"Dengue fever is an illness caused by four closely related viruses (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4)...Dengue fever is a tropical disease, so called because it is most prevalent in tropical climates where its vector of disease, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is abundant."

READ MORE

Hoyle, B. (2014). Dengue fever. In K. L. Lerner & B. W. Lerner (Eds.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Science (5th ed.). Gale. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CV2644030654/SUIC?u=61_alls&sid=SUIC&xid=2b832bfc

cells infected with malaria parasite

Blood cells infected with the parasite that causes malaria.

Malaria-causing parasite [Photograph]. (2007). Sick! UXL. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CV2210039686/SUIC?u=61_alls&sid=SUIC&xid=36c88e71


 

Logo for Encyclopedia Britannica

Click the link above to be taken to Encyclopedia Britannica and choose Middle School.

Search term - malaria

Malaria. (2021). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://school.eb.com.au/levels/middle/article/dengue/29928

 

Introduction

Malaria is a serious disease found in tropical areas of the world. The word malaria means “bad air.” Until the 1880s people thought that the disease came from bad air around swamps and marshes. Scientists now know that parasites, organisms that live inside other living things, cause the disease. Most malaria patients recover. Still, at least 1 million people, mostly children in Africa, die from malaria each year.

Symptoms

Most patients start having symptoms between one week and one month after a bite from an infected mosquito. Symptoms include high fever, chills and headache. These symptoms usually last for a few days, go away and then come back every two or three days. Other effects of malaria include anaemia (too few red blood cells) and an enlarged spleen.

Causes

There are four parasites that infect humans with malaria. The parasites are protozoans, or one-celled organisms, with the name PlasmodiumMosquitoes carry the parasites. When infected mosquitoes bite a person, the parasites enter the body’s bloodstream. Inside the person’s red blood cells, the parasites multiply until the cells burst. The escaped parasites then infect other red blood cells. Poisons released by the bursting cells cause malaria’s symptoms.

Prevention

People can use insecticides to kill mosquitoes that carry malaria. Communities can also drain swamps and ponds where the mosquitoes breed. People can cover their windows with screens and their beds with netting to keep out mosquitoes. Travelers going to areas where malaria occurs can take drugs that fight the parasites.

Treatment

Doctors can tell if a person has malaria by looking at a sample of blood through a microscope. Several types of drugs can treat malaria. Over time, however, the parasites have become stronger, and some drugs are now less likely to work.

READ MORE

Malaria. (2021). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://school.eb.com.au/levels/middle/article/dengue/29928


 

Gale high school logo banner

Level 3

"Malaria is a group of parasitic diseases common in tropical and subtropical areas...Malaria is caused by blood parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which are transmitted to humans by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito."

More information

Malaria. (2009). In World of Health. Gale. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CV2191500804/SUIC?u=61_alls&sid=SUIC&xid=d2c72d7e

 


 

 


 


 

Logo for Encyclopedia Britannica

Click the link above to be taken to Encyclopedia Britannica and choose Middle School.

Search term - rabies

Rabies: dog vaccination

© aspen rock/Fotolia
 

Rabies (Or hydrophobia), is a viral disease transmitted via the bite of an infected (rabid) animal or by its lick over an open cut. The rabies virus is present in the animal’s saliva and travels along nerves to the brain. Once in the human brain, inflammation causes delirium, painful muscle spasms in the throat, and usually death. Pet vaccination programs and prompt treatment of animal bites has reduced the number of rabies cases in the United States to 5 per year. There are an estimated 15,000 human rabies cases each year throughout the world.

The incubation period ranges from 10 days to more than a year, depending on the entry site. The early symptoms are fever, headache, and loss of appetite. After a while the patient becomes restless and disoriented and may experience seizures. The term hydrophobia (Greek for “fear of water”) comes from the patient’s failed attempts to satisfy a characteristic thirst because painful throat spasms prevent swallowing. Coma and death usually follow 3 to 20 days after the onset of symptoms.

Once symptoms have appeared, treatment is limited to sedatives and painkillers. Few people with rabies have survived. If a bite has occurred and there is a risk of rabies, patients are passively immunized with antirabies serum followed by a series of rabies vaccinations. If this routine is begun within two days of the bite, rabies is usually prevented. An animal suspected of being rabid is killed. Veterinarians, animal handlers, some laboratory workers, and persons visiting countries where rabies is a constant threat are routinely vaccinated with an inactivated form of the rabies virus.

READ MORE

Rabies. (2021). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://school.eb.com.au/levels/middle/article/dengue/29928


 

Gale high school logo banner

Level 3

"Rabies, an acute, severe viral infection that affects the central nervous system, is found in saliva, brain tissue, and cerebral spinal fluid of animals and/or humans infected by it. It is transmitted to humans and other animals through the bite of an infected animal."

More information

Rabies. (2007). In World of Health. Gale. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CV2191501066/SUIC?u=61_alls&sid=SUIC&xid=956407c1

scabies rash

health direct logo

Level 2

What is scabies?

Scabies is a very itchy skin condition caused by a tiny mite (bug).

Scabies is contagious and spreads quickly. If you have scabies, the whole family may need to be treated.

Click logo to read more.


 

Logo for Encyclopedia Britannica

Click the link above to be taken to Encyclopedia Britannica and choose HIGH School.

Search term - scabies

Level 3

Scabies, also called sarcoptic itch, skin inflammation accompanied by severe nighttime itching caused by the itch mite (Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis). The mite passes from person to person by close contact. Scabies is characteristically a disease of wartime, for living standards then drop, washing may be difficult, and people may be crowded together. The disease also afflicts many schoolchildren and residents of nursing homes, with periodic epidemics occurring even among persons with strict habits of hygiene and adequate living conditions.

READ MORE

Scabies. (2021). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://school.eb.com.au/levels/high/article/scabies/65999


 

Gale high school logo banner

Level 2

"Scabies is a relatively contagious skin infection caused by a tiny, 0.3-millimeter (about 0.0118-inch) long insect called a mite, specifically, Sarcopties scabiei. When a human encounters the female mite, the mite burrows under the skin, laying eggs along the line of its burrow. Eggs mature in about twenty-one days. These eggs hatch, and the resulting offspring rise to the surface of the skin, mate, and repeat the cycle either within the skin of the original host, or within the skin of its next victim. Adults live in the host for three-to-four weeks..."

READ MORE

Scabies. (2007). In World of Health. Gale. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CV2191501139/SUIC?u=61_alls&sid=SUIC&xid=ebf78cd5

 

epidemic typhus

Colourized scanning electron micrograph of the bacterium Rickettsia prowazekii, which causes epidemic typhus and typically is transmitted to humans by certain arthropods, particularly the body louse.

epidemic typhus; Rickettsia prowazekii . [image]. In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://school.eb.com.au/levels/middle/assembly/view/202724


 

Logo for Encyclopedia Britannica

Click the link above to be taken to Encyclopedia Britannica and choose Middle School.

Search term - typhus (disease)

Level 1

Typhus is the name of several diseases caused by tiny living things called bacteria. The symptoms of typhus include headache, fever and rash. Lice, fleas, mites and ticks carry the types of bacteria that cause typhus. These bloodsuckers pass the bacteria to humans.

To prevent typhus, people should keep lice, fleas, mites and ticks from getting on their skin. People also can get a vaccine, or substance that prevents the disease. If a person does get typhus, drugs called antibiotics can cure it.

flea

READ MORE

Typhus. (2021). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://school.eb.com.au/levels/middle/article/typhus/599542


 

Gale high school logo banner

Level 2

"Typhus is the general name for a group of three similar acute infectious diseases caused by the Rickettsia bacteria. The term typhus is derived from the Greek word typhos, which means hazy. Common symptoms of the three types of typhus include a fever up to 102°F (39°C) and a headache.

The three types of typhus infections are:

  • Epidemic typhus (also called European, classic, and louse-borne typhus)...
  • Endemic typhus (also called flea-borne, murine, and tropical typhus) ...
  • Scrub typhus (also called chigger-borne typhus)..."

READ MORE

Typhus. (2007). In World of Health. Gale. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CV2191501323/SUIC?u=61_alls&sid=SUIC&xid=d4e0765b