Teaching tools for Ebola & public health diseases
Band Aid is a tried and tested method of public engagement, bringing Ebola to public attention and giving us all something we can do to help rather than just scaring us. What is also needed here, and in West Africa, is education. For a novel method of education, I bring you Giant Microbes, which are sold as teaching tools. They are soft plush “cuddly” toys, anthropomorphised versions of microscopic images of microbes, and provide information on the microbe and the disease it causes in the attached label. I own the Ebola virus toy seen in the photograph. For a novel method of education, I bring you Giant Microbes, which are sold as teaching tools. They are soft plush “cuddly” toys, anthropomorphised versions of microscopic images of microbes, and provide information on the microbe and the disease it causes in the attached label. I own the Ebola virus toy.
Tuberculosis treatment- end of an era?
The 1940s saw the beginning of the era of effective drug therapy for TB with the discovery of streptomycin. At the beginning of the 21st century we are seeing its end. Last month doctors in India reported an outbreak of a strain of TB that was termed totally drug resistant. It could be a false…