Infectious Diseases

Web Guides

Web links

Topical information
Try some of these web sites for topical information.

• Abstracts from the current British Medical Journal
• News items on topics from CNN
• Useful up to date UK health statistics and links to other health sites from the Department of Health
• International health issues from World Health Organisation. This is the main site but the specialised sites given below are better.

1 Development of understanding of an infectious disease
Here is a weblink for an audio-file narration of the Semmelweis story which is 3 and a half minutes long.

There is a very good site about John Snow, mainly in his own words.

Look at the St Louis Community College web site which gives a history of microbiology, the development of the techniques needed to study microorganisms and the understanding of the germ theory of disease. This will help with the Semmelweiss activity.

Very useful historical information and questions are included in Medicine and Health Through Time from the Schools' History Project published by John Murray.

2 Study of one non-viral disease and one viral disease

• You will find a fantastic set of statistics, pie charts graphs and so on about infectious diseases at this WHO site.
• While at this WHO site you will obtain statistics on communicable disease, such as up-to-date country by country HIV and cholera cases.
• A site called the Cyber School Bus run by the UN has basic facts about infectious diseases, a glossary and a discussion covering definitions of health

3 Distinction between preventive and curative measures

• This WHO site offers very good information on vaccination, lots of material for the general public as well as more details for health workers. The site includes a good account of the MMR and autism debate.
• This site includes a good history of water borne infectious diseases from pre-history to present.

4 Development of preventive measures

Two useful publications with information about Pasteur are:

• Medicine and Health Through Time from the Schools' History Project published by John Murray
• Pasteur in The Nature of Science series from the Association for Science Education.

5 Dengue Fever
For use with Task 1 of Dengue Fever activity. Go to WHO Chapter 6 which is all about Dengue and Dengue Haermorrhagic Fever.

Ideas about science

Data and explanations

• Bandolier is the journal of evidence based medicine. It includes evaluations of many treatments presented in accessible tables and graphs. Also a source of useful information for data analysis exercises.
• Reports of the new committee National Institute for Clinical Excellence which evaluates medicines for clinical excellence. The site has good data on Zanamivir (Relenza) the flu medicine they turned down.

Other resources
Microbes and Men by Robert Reid
BBC
35 Marylebone High Street, London W1M 4AA
ISBN 0 563 12469 5 published 1974

The Wellcome Trust have produced a book called 'From Victoria to Viagra - 150 years of medical progress'. ISBN 1-84129-046-7. See http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTD003456.html

GSK have produced a free CD ROM 'The Science Behind Medicines'. It has sections on infection, bacteria, viruses and drug development. Copies can be obtained from resources@edist.co.uk.