A series of specimens and posters to show the microscopic and macroscopic world of bacteria and parasites

- The whole scale thing. The fact that bacteria are everywhere. Therefore how the body defends against them.
- The concept of good and bad bacteria (freak them out by going on about the bacteria in the gut). Point out that there are lots of different bacteria (can tell difference by things like smell and what they do to medium).
- Go over different infectious diseases caused by bacteria and how they mess you up (plague's always a good one for this). Go over how parasites do nasty stuff to you.

Here's my best attempt, pick and choose what you want accordingly.

1. Establish the kid's level of knowledge.

2. Explain what bacteria and parasites are.
a. Cover the fact that they're tiny LIVING organisms and absolutely everywhere.
b. Explain that there are a lot of different parasites and that some are V. small (eg malaria) and some are very big (eg tapeworms up to 30 foot long).

3. Explain that they're everywhere.
a. Tell them that they have bacteria all over their skin and that they have even more in their gut.

4. Explain what bacteria do:

GOOD BACTERIA

i. In the gut - digestion of food to provide essential vitamins.
ii. Stop bad bacteria growing (all way down alimentary canal)
iii. Produces nice cheeses. Note that listeria (a bacteria that can be used in soft cheeses) can also cause septicaemia and meningitis. (life's not all black and white).

BAD BACTERIA
- Go over ones that cause common childhood infections. Ask them if they can remember having vaccinations.

-VACCINATIONS:
Give examples of what bacteria these were for:
Corynebacterium dyphtheriae
Clostridium tetani.
Haemophilus influenzae

- Tell them that before they had these vaccinations, children used to die of these infections.

- EXAMPLE BAD BACTERIA
1. Yersinia Pestis
a. Cause of plague.
b. Older kids may have done it in history.
c. Point out that the last major outbreak killed 10s of millions in India/China/Burma at the beginning of the last century (ie it's not just ancient history)
d. Carried by rats and fleas.
e. Pneumonic form pretty much eats your lungs.
f. Bubonic form gives large pustules and lymph nodes that can burst through skin.

2. Anthrax
a. Older kids may have heard of.
b. Inhaled form generally fatal.

- FOOD POISINING

1. Some of the kids may have had it.
2. types: toxins of bacteria that grow in gut.

a. Toxins
i. Get you very quickly
ii. Botulinum toxin used in chemical warfare and beauty treatment. Death by respiratory failure.

b. Bacteria that grow in gut.
i. Tend to cause dysentery, giving bloody diarrhoea.
ii. Cholera gives diarrhoea that looks like cloudy water (technically doesn’t grow in but)
iii. Other examples include salmonella and shigella.
iv. Go over how these bad bacteria are spread (public health warning).

- SPREAD OF BAD BACTERIA.
Drag it out of them. if you have bacteria in the gut, what do you do after you've done a poo.
2. A good way of making sure you don't catch things is washing your hands after going to the toilet and before eating in general.
3. If food isn't cooked properly, then it is more likely to have bad bacteria on it.
4. Lots of bacteria live in animals as well - need to wash your hands after animal contact.
- How do we get rid of bad bacteria?
- Antibiotics.
- Antibiotic resistant bacteria.

PARASITES
- They have funny life cycles.
- Often involve animals.
- Malaria and mosquitos.
- schistosomiasis and snails
- Some grow in humans and are carried between humans by animals and for others it's the other way round.
- Some are huge.
- The whole tapeworm living in your gut and can be 30 feet long thing tends to work well.
- Get them to think what would happen with that living there. (ie the worm eats all their food)

SUMMARY

Bacteria:
- What are bacteria?
- They're tiny and everywhere (esp all over skin and lots in gut).
- Some are good and some are bad.
- They can cause childhood diseases and hence we vaccinate.
- They can cause food poisoning.
- How are bacteria spread?
- How do we stop ourselves getting infected with bacteria?
- How do we treat bacterial infections?

Parasites:
- Large differences in size (some small like bacteria, some up to 30 ft long).
- Cover different life cycles.
- The gory 30ft worm that can live in your gut.