Hopefully by now, you have come to realize that in college, one course impacts another. Even though you may not see a direct correlation at the time, every subject impacts every other subject in at least some small way. In Biology, not only do I have you write, but I also want you to look at this course from a historical standpoint.  

History is influenced by many factors.  One often-overlooked factor of historical outcomes is biology (microbiology).  For example, Europe was greatly affected and suffered almost a forty percent population reduction due to the Plague (Great Plague) or Black Death as it is sometimes referred to by historians.  The culprit of the Plague was a bacterium, Yersinia pestis.  Sanitation was not the order of the day in Europe at the time of the Plague.  Many rats and mice carried the bacterium, Yersinia pestis.  When fleas would bite the rats and then in turn bite the Europeans, the Europeans would develop plague.  This was further compounded by the fact that the rat population was growing exponentially due to the lack of cats.  Many Europeans believed for religious reasons that cats were associated with evil and did not keep them as pets.  If the cat population would have been larger, the rat population could have been better contained and the Plague might have not caused so many deaths.  Hopefully, this demonstrates how one subject impacts another.  No subject or study is ever isolated.

Your assignment is to find a historical event and identify what microbe contributed to it or caused it.  You cannot use Yersinia pestis, since this was my example .  Each of you must find his/her own example.  The event can be on a much smaller or even greater scale.  Also, I do not want duplicated events.  The organism can be duplicated (to a point) but the event must not be. I do not want to see 20 accounts of the Sarin gas attacks in the Tokyo subway.  You cannot use a personal reference.  For example,” My brother got sick with Salmonella when he was younger and that messed my family up.”  It needs to be an actual historical event that impacted many people.  It could have occurred anywhere in the world at any time in history.   You need to tell the historical event, when it occurred, where it occurred, what microorganism was to blame, and what type of microorganism it was (bacteria, virus, fungus, parasite, toxin,). Scientific names must be written correctly and given for the causative agent.

Remember, the material you submit is to be in your own words, no cutting and pasting of source information (such as from the internet).You must include (using MLA documentation) all sources consulted in writing this discussion board.  Don’t forget to reply to another student’s post in an educational manner. This means you must research the other student’s topic and provide facts he/she didn’t include in their post. You must also include an MLA citation for the sources consulted in researching the other student’s topic.  

The requirements for this discussion are:

 DISCUSSION BOARDS Discussion board (DB) submissions must be original. Students may not submit information on the same events or diseases. Students must adhere to the guidelines presented in the discussion board lin Each DB requires the student to research a topic, post an original discussion over that topic, give the MLA citation for sources consulted, and then reply to another student’s post in an educational manner. Replying to another student’s post requires the student to research that other student’s topic and add facts not already discussed and/or compare/contrast the topic with his/her own if applicable. An MLA citation must be included for the reply to another student to support the information presented. Web links are not acceptable MLA citations. Discussion boards are intended for instructional use only. Any information posted on the discussion board must adhere to the guidelines of the assignment given in the instructions of each discussion board. All information posted on the discussion board must be supported (by giving the citation and/or source in the discussion board using MLA documentation rules) by scientific fact in this course. This means the information must be derived from a peer-reviewed scientific journal (not a magazine or newspaper), scientific text book, or scientific paper published by a legitimate scientific society and written by a member of the scientific community. Once again, be careful when searching internet sources. Many are not supported by the scientific community and/or are plagiarisms of other sites. Do NOT copy and paste material onto the discussion board that isn’t your original work. Discussion boards that lack any type of MLA citation will not be graded. Students will not receive credit for replies that are “small talk” in nature. It is recommended that students utilize NoodelTools offered through the DCCCD online library resources. Discussion Board Etiquette This science course is based on scientific fact alone, not personal opinions. Please refrain from using the discussion board to express political viewpoints, as a dating service, to advertise any and all types of solicitation, from expressing religious viewpoints or quoting Biblical passages, or giving personal opinions. Please refrain from using any inappropriate language in the discussion boards. Please do not “sign” discussion boards. The discussion board will automatically be posted with your name. Below are examples of acceptable scientific publications (you are not limited to these): Journal of Clinical Microbiology Epidemiology Reviews American Society for Microbiology News (ASM News) Science Nature Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Journal of Virology Journal of Infectious Diseases New England Journal of Medicine Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Lancet Journal of Bacteriology Journal of Tropical Medicine Clinical Microbiology Review Examples of unacceptable sources for this course: Wikipedia.com- never acceptable – do not refer/utilize it in this class Time National Geographic National Inquirer Any newspaper (such as: Dallas Morning News, USA Today, New Yorker) Reader’s Digest Globe Any other magazine: Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Good Housekeeping ***In no way are these lists all inclusive. These are meant to represent examples of what is and is not acceptable. When in doubt, please contact me prior to posting any information. ***The use of unacceptable sources or the avoidance of using a source will result in the loss of points for an assignment. ***Failure to adhere to discussion board etiquette may result in the student being blocked from using the discussion board and a loss of points.