Infectious Disease
Bird Flu Today Public Awareness Campaign
 Your Individual Tasks are to become experts in your research areas and find answers to the following questions. After completing research on each of the these topics, you must provide your team with a concise – but detailed – explanation of what you learned and how it can be applied to the current situation. Once you and your team have answered the following questions, you will be ready to tackle the group portion and put together your public awareness campaign. Your individual research is crucial, because without it, your team will not be able to answer overarching group questions that will inform your campaign. The individual questions are divided into the four areas of expertise that follow.
Researcher 1: How is avian influenza different from the common flu?
The common flu is not life threatening for the young and healthy, who make up most of the world’s population . If that is the case, then why is it that avian influenza poses such a high risk?
Researcher 2: Is H5N1 on the verge of evolving into THE superbug of the century?
The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 demonstrates why microbial evolution is a concern for scientists everywhere. What needs to happen for H5N1 to present a threat to public health?
Researcher 3: Is finding and producing a vaccine for H5N1 an easy task?
Each year a new seasonal flu vaccine is produced to fight different strains of the virus that are predicted to dominate in that particular period. What does this indicate about efforts to develop a vaccine for H5N1?
Researcher 4: For avian influenza, are public health measures the most effective prevention option?
Many will argue that public health measures are the best way to control and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. How can we learn from our past experiences dealing with pandemics?
Next: Group Activity
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