Resource

What is an Infectious Disease?

Overview

In this lesson pupils consider how infections can spread rapidly through a population and are introduced to the different infectious agents that cause disease (bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasitic organisms).

Pupils are also introduced to some of the body’s natural defences and play a game that simply models some of these defence mechanisms. The lesson culminates with setting a homework task in which pupils research the contributions of pioneers in the field of infection prevention and treatment as preparation for the next lesson in this series, ‘Preventing infectious diseases.’

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