Who is most likely to contract this disease? How does the disease affect people of different races, genders, behaviors, ages, geographical locations? Is the disease hospital- or community- acquired, or both?

Infectious Disease Project:

During the first week of the course you will pick an infectious disease! Research this disease and prepare an infographic or brochure that describes the disease. Power point presentations are not appropriate as we do not have time for the oral presentations of these projects. Your project must include (but is not limited to)
• the etiologic agent of the disease and its life/infectious cycle,
• diagnosis,
• symptoms,
• mechanism of pathogenicity,
• treatment,
• current status, and
• future ramifications.

This research project should have at least 6 bibliographical citations, two of which must come from a textbook or primary research article.

You will pick an infectious disease that you are interested in studying. You may present your infectious disease as a poster, infographic, or brochure. Your project should include the following:

Etiologic Agent: The microbial agent that causes the disease must be identified and correctly characterized. Further, the life or infectious cycle of this microbe/ organism should be described thoroughly. This discussion should include the means by which this disease is spread among humans.

Diagnosis: How is the disease diagnosed? Briefly describe the test(s) involved and how they work.

Symptoms: The symptoms of this disease should be described thoroughly. If there is a significant asymptomatic period, that should be described as well.

Epidemiology: Who is most likely to contract this disease? How does the disease affect people of different races, genders, behaviors, ages, geographical locations? Is the disease hospital- or community- acquired, or both?

Mechanism of Pathogenicity: Describe thoroughly HOW this microorganism causes disease in the human host –exactly what does it do to damage the host cells and organs, and how does this ensure its spread?

Treatment: Describe treatments for this disease, including a brief description of the mechanisms of action of the therapeutic agents if the information is available.

Current status: Describe the impact of this disease on the human population currently. You should include statistics that give an idea of the number of cases that are currently occurring. If there has been a drastic change in the occurrence of the disease from past to present, please tell why this might be. The CDC website is a wonderful place to find this type of information (www.cdc.govLinks to an external site.).

Future of the disease: Here, you are to thoroughly describe your opinion of what effect this disease will have on humans in the future. Describe why you are predicting the future as you are.

Energy: Assess the amount of effort you have put into this project. To earn points in this category, you should show attention to detail, interest in your project and thoroughness/correctness with respect to the facts you are presenting. Grammar also will be considered when assessing this category. Creativity will also be considered.

References: All references (at least 6) should be thoroughly cited and follow the guidelines in the syllabus.