Epidemiology of Nipah Virus

Illustration of antibodies from the activity

Topic

Resource Type

Level

High School — AP/IB College

Used In

2 BioInteractive Playlists

Saved By

20 Users

Description

This activity complements the video Virus Hunter: Monitoring Nipah Virus in Bat Populations. Students explore cases of Nipah virus infection, analyze evidence, and make calculations and predictions based on data.

Students assume the role of epidemiologists analyzing real data from an outbreak of Nipah virus in Malaysia, attempting to identify the reservoir of the virus and curtail the outbreak. Students will make predictions, perform calculations, adapt to new information, and make recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

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Student Learning Targets

Use appropriate scientific terms, including “reservoir” and “spill over,” in describing a disease outbreak.
Synthesize information about antigens and antibodies with knowledge about enzymes to understand enzyme immunoassay technology.
Use information collected in case studies to distill complex, real-world data, and perform basic calculations to make decisions on the spread of Nipah in those cases.

Estimated Time

One 50-minute class period; however, any of the five parts may be assigned as homework.

Key Terms

bat, ELISA, epidemiology, immunology, infectious disease, outbreak, public health, virus

Primary Literature

Luby, Stephen P., M. Jahangir Hossain, Emily S. Gurley, Be-Nazir Ahmed, Shakila Banu, Salah Uddin Khan, Nusrat Homaira, et al. “Recurrent Zoonotic Transmission of Nipah Virus into Humans, Bangladesh, 2001–2007.” Emerging Infectious Diseases 15, 8 (2009): 1229–1235. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1508.081237.

Parashar, Umesh D., Lye Munn Sunn, Flora Ong, Anthony W. Mounts, Mohamad Taha Arif, Thomas G. Ksiazek, Muhammad A. Kamaluddin, et al. “Case-Control Study of Risk Factors for Human Infection with a New Zoonotic Paramyxovirus, Nipah Virus, during a 1998–1999 Outbreak of Severe Encephalitis in Malaysia.” The Journal of Infectious Diseases 181, 5 (2000): 1755–1759. https://doi.org/10.1086/315457.