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Killer Disease on Campus

Viewing Ideas

Before Watching

1. Discuss the meaning of vaccine. Ask students to raise their hands if they have been vaccinated for any diseases. Make a list of these diseases on the chalkboard. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of requiring school children to be vaccinated.

2. Review the following terms with your students:

   • bacteria—microscopic, single-celled organisms that can live peacefully in or be harmful to the human body.

   • virus—nucleic acid surrounded by a protein coat that remains inactive outside a living cell.

   • antibody—protein designed to attach to and disable a specific foreign substance.

   • antibiotic—drug that prevents or kills bacteria.

   • vaccine—a medication used to induce immunity against a particular disease.

3. Divide the class into three groups. As students watch, have one group record symptoms of meningococcal disease, another group take notes on how the disease invades and damages the body, and the third group list available treatments.

After Watching

1. Have groups present their notes from the program. Hold a discussion about the symptoms of the disease, how it invades and damages the body, and currently available treatments.

2. Ask students to recall symptoms of the common flu and compare them to symptoms of meningococcal disease. How are they the same, and how are they different? What symptoms would cause you to go to the hospital?