Patient Zero
Identifying Pathogens with Hoffman
Group Member Roles
You are a group of medical professionals that have come into contact with a patient that is suffering many symptoms due to a pathological infection. Your job is to research the symptoms and clues given along the way to determine the cause of infection. The group of four medical professionals you belong to are broken into the following roles:
1. Main Researcher – conducts computer research based on the needs of the group and completes the pathogen requirement (#1).
2. Publicist – creates a press release (#3) or conducts a press conference based on the group’s preference and will present this to the class.
3. Data Analyst/Entry – submits test strips to the attending doctor to request additional information for the group, creates the treatment log requirement (#2) and the comparison graph requirement (#4), gathers and organizes all information found by the team, and presents professional looking final products (according to the requirements) to the attending doctor.
4. Hospital Liaison – keeps team on track with deadlines, communicates patient's progress (during daily "rounds") with the attending doctor (Dr. Hoffman), and completes the follow-up story requirement (#5).
5. Scientist - works alongside the Hospital Liaison in keeping team on track with deadlines, communicating patient's progress (during daily "rounds") with the attending doctor (Dr. Hoffman), and completing the follow-up story requirement (#5).
Our Patients
Bradley Minnow
A USAir pilot suffering from headache; nausea; stiffness and numbness in his joints; severe stomach cramps; and a nose bleed.
Caroline Embers
Caroline Embers, that is the soon-to-be Mrs. Caroline Embers, suffers from bright red rash, headache, chills, fever, increased fatigue, and numbness in her extremities.
Ian Butler and Miranda Berry
Miranda Berry, and Ian Butler, sophomores at the University of North Carolina, suffer from a fever, nausea, and vomiting.
Update on Bradley
3/23: Once in the hospital, Bradley came down with some severe stomach pains which led to simultaneous vomiting and diarrhea. The medical team had to place him on an extra IV fluid drip to maintain his hydration levels.
3/24: His headache returned and was identified as being a 9 out of 10 on the pain tolerance scale.
3/25: The day after his admittance into the hospital, Bradley developed a rash in random patches: his neck, arm, chest and lower back.
4/4: At the end of his week stay in the hospital Bradley found it difficult to swallow and even breathe. The medical team had to place him on a ventilator for him to receive oxygen, and a feeding tube to receive nutrition. Interesting to find out that within the last 2 weeks (prior to falling ill) he flew a small 10 passenger commercial jet to the country of Uganda where he may have drunk unpasteurized milk with oatmeal during his breakfast on his stay in Sudan.
Update on Caroline
3/24: Over the remainder of the week Caroline continued to have random numbness in her extremities but what was the real problem...her knees. The pain she experienced in her knee joints would cause her to have to sit down often and ice them with little relief. She also noticed that she had some large bumps poking underneath her skin under her armpits. A few bumps were also along her neckline and by her right ear.
3/25: When the bumps didn't go away and the pain wouldn't subside but began keeping her up at night, Caroline went to her family doctor. The doctor didn't seem to have an answer for the numbness and joint pain, other than arthritis, but he was concerned that the right side of her face seemed to be drooping a little bit. He held a mirror up to Caroline and she gasped at the sight! The right side of her face had lost all its muscle tone.
4/4: Caroline's rash started to spread to where it was about 7-8 inches in length with a bulls-eye effect (some skin parts are red and some are lighter in color, like a bulls-eye).
Update on Miranda and Ian
Ian: Ian continued back to his dorm room after sneezing on Stacy. He had to stop twice to throw up. Finally making it to his dorm room he collapsed on his bed and fell asleep. He didn't awake until the following morning when he felt like he was standing in the middle of a fire. Before he had a chance to call his parents, Ian lost consciousness.
3/24: Miranda: At the hospital's emergency room Miranda now complains of a headache that she thinks is a result from a stiff neck from watching TV in bed all weekend.
Ian: Ian's roommate came home from his 8:00 am class to find his roommate asleep. When Ian still wasn't awake by noon, Gavin checked on him to find that Ian was breathing but could not be woken up. He called the campus infirmary and told them that Ian was throwing up here and there the past couple of days. He also told them that Ian was experiencing a very high fever and that he was unconscious. The infirmary sent an ambulance to take Ian to the hospital and called his family members to meet him there.
3/25: Miranda: Miranda's mom and roommate tell doctors and nurses that they've noticed Miranda is just not herself. She is very slow, in movements and reactions (takes minutes to respond when spoken to, etc.) and is often getting upset and yelling at her visitors that are only there in a positive way.
Ian: Since Ian waited so long and ignored his symptoms before reaching the hospital, he suffered a seizure and is now in a coma.
4/4: Miranda: No updates available at this time.
Ian: Ian died in his coma-state last night.
Adam Suthri
Adam Suthri, a four-year-old boy suffers from complete lack of feeling in his lower extremities.
Cassandra Tellorio
Twenty-year-old Cassandra Tellorio, Italy’s next top model, suffers from skin discoloration, and raised, thick, painful growths on her skin.
Alyssa Abbott
Alyssa Abbott, twenty-nine year old graphic designer, suffers from a fever, chills, and body aches.
Update on Adam
3/24: Adam was definitely not the kid he was before. Every movement ended in extreme exhaustion and fatigue. Eating dinner required a nap afterwards. Walking down to feed the pigs caused him to nearly collapse on the way back up.
3/25: Over time the repeated exhaustion continued to alarm his parents. What 4 yr. old boy was able to contain their energy? What 4 yr. old boy refused to eat because he would be too tired to lift the food to his mouth? This time Adam's parents packed some belongings and made the hour long trek to the CURE International Hospital in Kabul. Exhausted themselves, (they had to share the responsibility of carrying or pulling Adam along in a handmade cart the entire way to the hospital since Adam lost feeling in his legs 5 minutes through the journey).. Adam's parents collapsed by the front door of the hospital. A medical staff went to their air and assessed all members of the family, treating the parents for dehydration and assessing Adam's flaccid legs.
4/4: no updates available at this time.
Update on Cassandra
3/24: The cream and vitamin regimen do not work. Cassie is now beginning to feel numbness in the affected areas. The number of growths have also increased and spread to her torso, legs, and arms. She returns to the dermatologist out of growing concern.
3/25: Now seeing the symptoms on a larger scale, the dermatologist recalls seeing similar photos taken from a medical school colleague's trip to Mozambique. He calls this old friend to come for a consult.
4/4: Cassie continues to have severe pain in her hands and feet to the point that she often does not get out of bed. Recently she has been suffering from some major nosebleeds that take sometimes 30 minutes to subside. One morning she woke up, opened her eyes, but the scenery in front of her was severely blurry and Cassie has never worn contacts or glasses in her entire life. She called a friend to drive her to the hospital and stepped out of bed to get dressed. When her feet touched the floor she yelled out in pain - when she looked at the bottoms of her feet she saw large, painful, red lesions.
Update on Alyssa
3/24: Alyssa woke up that Wednesday with a headache and back pain which she attributed mostly to the vomiting from the day before. She was also very weak due to lack of nutrition and hydration. She managed to drink a few ounces of Gatorade during the day. On Sunday night Alyssa was feeling more like herself.
3/25: Monday (a week after the initial symptoms) Alyssa went back to work. She was feeling pretty good. She caught up on the loose ends to the BMW commercial, and stayed at work late to wrap it all up for submission. Tuesday she went to work and received feedback from BMW and went to work making adjustments to the commercial. Around lunchtime Alyssa had her previous symptoms return - nausea, body aches, sudden fever, chills, and she felt like she might vomit again. She finished her work quickly, resubmitted to BMW, and went home for the day.
4/4: Tuesday she noticed her skin turning a slight yellow color. She went to the doctor. The doctor diagnosed her as having a case of jaundice. Alyssa's brother Justin, we just found out, is a missionary and occasionally works with church groups in Africa. He returned to New York just 2 days before his birthday party.
Trace Hollis
Trace Hollis, outdoor adventurer, expedition leader, and fly-fishing extraordinaire, suffers from a fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, body aches and a rash spreading up his arm.
Update on Trace
3/24: Trace is released from the hospital and goes home. Over the next few weeks he continues to experience extreme fatigue and weakness, especially in his legs.
3/25: Within a day Trace's previous symptoms reappear and he heads back into the hospital. While in the waiting room he suddenly falls off of his chair and onto the floor and his body starts to spasm. A medical team rushes over to him and secures his head to prevent him from swallowing his tongue and allows Trace to ride out the seizure. After the seizure, nurses help the doctor on call to place Trace on a flat, orange spine board and transport him to a hospital bed.
4/4: Trace's seizure leaves him with some permanent tremors and occasional disorientation where he confuses his surroundings and those in contact with him. After 2 weeks in this condition Trace suffers another seizure which places him in a coma. Trace passes away that night.
SUBMIT A TEST / TREATMENT
Project Requirements
1. Identify pathogen – Create an iBook to present the material that will discuss the following:
a. What surfaces is this pathogen capable of living on?
b. How long does the pathogen live outside of the body? Inside of the body?
c. How does this pathogen get spread from person to person (or to other organisms)?
d. Does this pathogen use a specific vector (rat, tick, mosquito, soil, etc.) to aid in spreading the disease?
e. How can the spreading of this pathogen be prevented?
f. What percentage of people in the USA have been infected by this pathogen in the last ten years (2005 - 2015)?
SITE YOUR SOURCES!!!!
2. Comparison – Create a bar chart (of your design) on an Infogram (https://infogr.am/) where you are to compare the intensity of your pathogen to that of other pathogens. Please rank all pathogens according to their level of intensity (example: 1 = least harmful to 6 = worst pathogen to be infected with. Of the six pathogens, one should rank as #1, one as #2, one as #3, #4, #5 and #6.)
The pathogens you will rank need to be:
a. TWO well-known pathogens (different from the pathogen infecting your Patient Zero)
b. TWO obscure (rare) pathogens (different from Patient Zero)
c. ONE pathogen that is affecting other countries aside from America (different from Patient Zero)
d. YOUR pathogen that is affecting patient zero's health
SITE YOUR SOURCES in a text box under your graph!!!!
**This graph will need to be uploaded into your group's iBook as a link to the site or as a screenshot picture.
3. Press Release – you will create this item to educate the surrounding communities about the break-out of your pathogen. This item should include:
a. What the problem is and where the problem started.
b. Signs/Symptoms of Patient Zero at start and current status of Patient Zero
c. Current treatment options for Patient Zero
d. Expected future of Patient Zero and the expected outcome of this case
e. Difference between pandemic and epidemic and which one we are dealing with in your patient's case
f. Other concerns/warnings to the public for their awareness of the problem
g. Who is at risk?
h. Should be presented in one of the following formats: live press conference (in front of the class), written newspaper article (read aloud to class as if you are a newscaster), or a pre-recorded press conference (will present your video to the class). Let your imagination fly here!
4. Treatment/Testing Log – you will create a spreadsheet that will track the tests that you conducted on Patient Zero, the results of each test, and the resulting treatments given to the patient. **These spreadsheets will need to be uploaded into your group's iBook as an embedded spreadsheet or a screenshot picture.
a. Include patient name and ID#.
b. Include all doctors' names on the case.
c. Include all tests and treatments performed during the course of project and organize chronologically according to the date submitted.
d. Should be two separate spreadsheets - one labeled testing, the other treatment.
e. Each spreadsheet should have at least 4 columns: test/treatment name, date submitted, test/treatment results, receipt date of the results
5. Follow-up Story – you will create a follow-up story that includes:
a. Status of Patient Zero
b. Warnings to the general public – is the area now safe? Should they still be using caution?
c. Prevention in the future – how can the public make sure this doesn’t happen to them?
d. Treatment(s) of Patient Zero
e. Personal interview with Patient Zero (patient may be played by one of your group members)
f. Must be presented as a live interview recorded with iMovie. Let your imagination fly here!
SITE YOUR SOURCES in the credits of your movie!!!!
**This iMovie will need to be uploaded into your group's iBook as a media file.
QUESTIONS?
Email: jill_hoffman@iss.k12.nc.us
Website: http://www.edmodo.com
Location: 132 Swift Arrow Drive, Mooresville, NC, United States
Phone: 704-664-4430
Press Release Requirement DUE DATE
Thursday, Mar 24, 2016, 08:30 AM
Brawley Middle School, Brawley School Road, Mooresville, NC, United States
Pathogen, Comparison Chart, Testing/Treatment Log, Follow-up Story DUE DATE
Thursday, Apr 7, 2016, 08:30 AM
Brawley Middle School, Brawley School Road, Mooresville, NC, United States
Survey of your Team Members
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1fV4pLwDeLnZngX-R1z3qJobZc5y1dkAlGcFI0BZYTwc/viewform?usp=send_form