Team+H1N1

= **EPISODE 1: THE MICROSCOPIC MENACE** = = WARNING: BIOHAZARD. THE WORLD IS UNDER ATTACK FROM A DEADLY VIRUS. It kills within days, spreads like wildfire, and has no known cure. The world is in panic. Your town is falling to rioting. DON'T TALK TO ANYONE. DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING. =

Our goal with this activity is to not bore the students with meaningless question sheets that distract rather than actually help the student to learn [|how a virus spreads] Before the movie the students should watch this video and understand fully how a virus is actually contracted from person to person and how simple it really is. This video shows just how the common flu spreads, now the students should take into consideration that the virus in the movie is far more complex and deadlier than the common flu.

Pre-Contagion
Before you watch the movie, take a look at a few diagrams that we have created to show the concept of R naught and what its meaning really is. The students should understand it and will be given an example problem to test it out and see how quickly a virus of that magnitude can spread and change life as we know it in the blink of an eye.

[|R naught=1] [|R naught=2] [|R naught=3]

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Post-Contagion
Now that you’ve seen the movie and done the rest of the activities, here are some things to think about.

a) Viruses are always changing, learning from other organisms. They mutate very rapidly in hopes of fooling the body’s immune defenses. Look up some ways viruses change, and if any particular virus interests you, use it as a model.

b) In the case of a pandemic, as in Contagion, things became heated quite fast due to the virus’s rate of infection and mortality rate. People resorted to looting, rioting, killing, and panic. Describe how you would act if the virus hit your town, let’s say, a week ago. Where would you go? What would you do? And above all, how would you stay safe?

c) With a team, create a plan of action for containing the virus. Use any resources you think are appropriate (military, scientists, weapons, television, the Internet, etc.). How is your plan different from the way the CDC, military, Government, and WHO reacted? (extra points for using a diagram or form!)