Human Biology Writing Assignment

Infectious diseases

In this writing assignment, you choose an infectious disease of your interest (You may consult the list of diseases discussed in class) and read 3 scientific papers related to that disease.

Learning objectives:

· Learn some of the details of transmission, infection, and recovery from a single disease

· Continue learning to read and understand scientific literature

· Learn to search for scientific literature using a scientific literature index

Start:

1. Choose an infectious disease that is of interest to you (you may consult the list of disease discussed in class).

2. Find and read 3 scientific peer-reviewed (watch Dr. Betty Galbraith’s presentation) journal articles related to the disease.

3. Use the information in your articles to write an essay describing the disease under the following bullet points

· Why is that infectious disease of interest to you.

· What kind of organism causes the disease? (e.g. virus, bacteria, roundworm, etc.)

· Describe the organism (biologically)?

· How is it transmitted between people? (e.g. fluid contact, mosquito vector, etc.)

· What are the symptoms?

· What are the treatments?

· One additional bit of information you find interesting

Please do not write more than two pages.

Formal citation (journal style) for the article.