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Upper
School Becomes Hot Zone of Thinking About Infectious Diseases Additional
Links:
The Hot Zone, a non-fiction account written with the pacing and suspense of a good science fiction thriller, focuses on the Ebola virus and the near outbreak that occurred in Reston, VA, during the late 80s. The book was selected because of its potential to open discussion among students and faculty as to the nature of disease and how a highly infectious virus, predominantly found in central Africa, can possibly end up at our doorstep in the United States. Disease
Was Rampant Throughout the Upper School Within the classroom, each department chose to address concepts in the book from a variety of perspectives. Gayle Key, chair of the math department, taught her students about exponential growth and how this relates to bacterial growth. Spanish teachers Jeanne Kotrady and Julie Bullinger showed some of their classes a video about the ways in which populations in Peru are dealing with water-borne diseases, such as cholera, and developing methods to reduce their prevalence. Honors Biology students in Ms. Bello’s classes performed a tasty simulation using candy, in which student groups each followed a different “antibiotic” regimen to illustrate the importance of finishing all prescribed medication in order to hinder resistant strains from multiplying and evolving.
In Ms. Bello’s AP and IB biology classes students transformed E. coli bacteria so that they contained a jellyfish gene that would allow the strains to fluoresce under UV light. Using a kit from a biotech supplier, the students mixed E. coli and a plasmid that has been engineered to contain a fluorescent gene found in jellyfish. (A plasmid is an additional, circular piece of genetic material found in bacteria and is often used in genetic engineering to clone genes of interest, e.g., the insulin gene.) After mixing the E. coli and the plasmid in a vial, the students heat shocked it. Then they cultured the E. coli on a Petri dish containing a nutrient agar that will allow the E.coli bacteria to grow only if it picks up the plasmid and has been transformed with the fluorescent gene. The students viewed the Petri dish under a UV light to make their observations. The technique was one of many used by scientists in The Hot Zone to identify specific viruses and other agents. Rationing
a Scarce Vaccine Gumshoes and Epidemiology
Noting that the logo of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, a division of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, includes a gumshoe imprinted on a globe, infectious disease specialist Dr. John Weems explained in a special presentation to students that good epidemiology involves “shoe leather and long division,” a reference to the field work and statistical analyses that are essential to tracing the sources and predicting the likely spread of disease outbreaks. The presentation by Dr. Weems, who works for the Greenville Hospital System, focused on the job of an epidemiologist and the various disease concerns in Greenville County and the state of South Carolina. His talk and the question-and-answer session that followed helped to illustrate the main point of The Hot Zone: that we are not beyond the reach of even the most exotic of diseases and that we are all vulnerable to infection. We need to be aware of our risks and understand the ways we can work toward prevention of infectious diseases. Upper School librarian Anne Howson arranged the visit by Dr. Weems.
Outbreak
“Our reading was nothing if not timely!” noted Mrs. Howson. In a story carried by the major news services on December 11, an outbreak of Ebola among gorillas in West Africa has been documented. More than 5,000 gorillas have already died of the disease, and there are indications that people who hunt the infected apes are also contracting the virus. The World Health Organization reports that between its discovery in 1976 and 2004, Ebola hemorrhagic fever has killed 1,200 people. Student
Reactions According to CCES seniors Neal Moseley and Will Guzick, reading The Hot Zone definitely changed the way they think about infectious diseases. Neal remarked, “It made me feel sorry for people in other parts of the world who are affected by diseases, but I feel safe in this country. It hasn’t made me wash my hands anymore. I don’t worry about these terrible diseases because there’s never been a case of Ebola in the general population of our country. Maybe I’d feel differently if I lived in Zimbabwe.” Will added, “Reading Preston’s book definitely has changed my view of Ebola and related viruses. In The Hot Zone, Preston effectively demonstrates how devastating the release of a deadly virus could be.” Next
Year’s Global Science Assignment
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The
phrase “too hot to handle” took on new and somber meanings
in the Upper School in November as the entire Upper School read
and discussed the best-selling book The Hot Zone by Richard
Preston. At the same time, students learned about the interrelatedness
of the global community, and that what happens in a remote cave
in the rainforests of Africa can have horrific significance in their
own lives. 
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