Disease Spread Answer Key

Vocabulary: disease, epidemic, infect, infectious disease, pathogen

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

[Note: The purpose of these questions is to activate prior knowledge and get students thinking.
Students are not expected to know the answers to the Prior Knowledge Questions.]

1. Why do you think it is important to cover your mouth when you cough?

Answers will vary. [Coughing releases thousands of tiny droplets that can be inhaled by
other people. The droplets may also land on surfaces that other people may touch. If the
droplets contain pathogens, the pathogens can easily be transferred to a new host.]

2. Why should you always wash your hands before you eat?

Answers will vary. [Every time you touch a surface, bacteria and other microorganisms will
likely be transferred to your hands. Some of these microorganisms may be pathogenic. If a
pathogen is transferred from your hand to your mouth, you could become ill.]

Gizmo Warm-up
When a person has a disease, his or her normal body
functions are disrupted. Some diseases, such as diabetes
and most cancers, are not spread from one person to
another. But other diseases, such as the flu and strep
throat, can be spread. These diseases are known as
infectious diseases. Infectious diseases are caused by
viruses, bacteria, and other agents known as pathogens.

In the Disease Spread Gizmo™, you will be able to

observe how various pathogens can spread through a
group of people. Click Play ( ) and observe.

1. Describe what happened on the SIMULATION pane:

Sample answer: People begin moving around the room. After a person visits the buffet
table, he is likely to turn green. Over time, the number of green people increase.

2. Look at the color key on the bottom right of the Gizmo. What is happening when a person
changes color?

On the simulation, a person changes color to indicate the person has become infected with
a disease. The color green indicates the person is infected with a foodborne disease.

 
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Get the Gizmo ready:

Activity A:
 Click Reset ( ).
Person-to-person  On the CONTROLS tab under Active Diseases,
transmission turn off Foodborne and turn on Person to person.
 Set the Number of people to 5.

Question: What factors affect how quickly a pathogen spreads from person to person?

1. Predict: Some pathogens are spread directly from one person to another. This can happen
when people come into direct contact or share items, such as drinking glasses. What do you
think might affect how quickly a pathogen is spread from person to person?

Answers will vary. [Population density and ease of transmission are the two primary factors
affecting the infection rate of a disease.]

2. Identify: Select the SIMULATION tab on the left and the TABLE tab on the right. (You will
want the table tab open to answer question C.)

A. What does the purple person represent? An infected person

B. Click Play, and observe the simulation for a while. What must happen for the disease

to spread from one person to another? People must come into direct contact

C. How long did it take to infect five people? Answers will vary.

3. Experiment: Click Reset. Change the Number of people to 15. Click Play, and record how
long it takes to infect five people. Then repeat the experiment when there are 25 people and
35 people in the room.

Results will vary. Sample data given below.

Number of people in room Time required to infect five people (hr)
15 5.2 hr
25 4.3 hr
35 3.0 hr

4. Interpret: Study the data you collected. What trend do you see in the data, and how would
you explain it?

As the number of people in the room increased, the time required to infect five people
decreased. This most likely occurred because contact between people became more
common as the room grew more crowded, thus it was easier for the pathogen to spread
from one person to the next.

(Activity A continued on next page)

 
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Activity A (continued from previous page)

5. Experiment: Not all pathogens are equally infectious. Click Reset. Set the Number of
people to 20. Under Probability of transmission, select Low for Person to person.

On the SIMULATION tab, click Play. Record the time it takes to infect five people. Then
repeat the experiment with a medium and high probability of transmission. (Note: For the
“Medium” setting, move the slider half-way between the Low and High positions.)

Answers will vary. Sample answers given below.

Probability of Transmission Time required to infect five people (hr)
Low 74.6 hr
Medium 5.9 hr
High 3.1 hr

6. Interpret: Study the data you collected in the table above. What trend do you see in the data,
and how would you explain it?

As the probability of transmission increased, the time required to infect five people
decreased. This most likely occurred because a higher probability of transmission made it
more likely that the pathogen would spread from one person to the next.

7. Analyze: On the CONTROLS tab, place the Probability of transmission slider under
Person to person half-way between Low and High. Select the SIMULATION and GRAPH
tabs. Click Play.

A. At what time did the disease spread most slowly? Most quickly?

It spread most slowly in the first few hours, but as more people became infected the
rate of transmission increased.

B. How could you explain this change in the rate of the disease’s spread?

The disease spreads when infected people meet uninfected people. This happens
most frequently when there are equal numbers of infected and uninfected people.
The disease spreads more slowly when there are very few infected people or very
few healthy people.

8. Apply: An epidemic is the rapid spread of an infectious disease. How do you think a
government could try to prevent an epidemic of a dangerous person-to-person pathogen?

Sample answer: The government could ban public gatherings and encourage people to limit
their contact with others.

 
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Activity B: Get the Gizmo ready:

Foodborne and  Click Reset.
airborne  On the CONTROLS tab under Active diseases,
transmission turn off Person to person and turn on Foodborne.

Question: How do foodborne and airborne pathogens spread?

1. Predict: How do you expect the spread of a foodborne disease to be similar to and different
from the spread of a person-to-person disease?

Sample answer: Both types of diseases are transmitted when a person comes in contact
with something carrying a pathogen. In foodborne diseases, the pathogen is carried by food
rather than a person.

2. Observe: Select the SIMULATION tab. Click Play and closely watch the people moving
around the room.

A. What does each person do just before becoming infected?

They visit the buffet table.

B. How are foodborne pathogens transmitted?

By consuming food or a beverage that contains a pathogen

C. If a person in the simulation never eats or drinks anything from the buffet table, is it
possible for them to become sick with the foodborne disease? Explain your answer.

In order to be infected with the foodborne disease, a person must eat or drink from
the buffet table. People are not infected with the foodborne disease any other way.

3. Analyze: Select the GRAPH tab, and wait for every person to become infected.

A. At what time did the disease spread most slowly? Most quickly?

The disease spread most quickly at the beginning and most slowly at the end of the
simulation.

B. How could you explain this change in the rate of the disease’s spread?

The more time that passed, the more likely it was a person would visit the buffet
table. In the first several hours, many people visited the table. The rate of spread
decreased as fewer and fewer people were left who had not visited the buffet table.

(Activity B continued on next page)

 
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Activity B (continued from previous page)

4. Compare: How does the spread of a foodborne pathogen compare to the spread of the
person-to-person pathogen you studied in activity A?

The foodborne pathogen spread slower because the likelihood of coming in contact with the
pathogen did not increase over time as it did with the person-to-person disease.

5. Predict: How would you expect the spread of an airborne disease to be similar to and
different from the spread of a foodborne disease and a person-to-person disease?

Sample answer: All these diseases are transmitted when a person comes in contact with
something carrying a pathogen. An airborne disease will likely be transmitted faster because
it is more likely for a person to breathe in contaminated air then to come in contact with a
pathogen-carrying person or food item.

6. Experiment: Run a few simulations with the airborne pathogen.

A. What patterns do you notice in how the airborne pathogen spreads?

The pathogen seems to spread randomly.

B. How does the spread of an airborne pathogen compare to the spread of foodborne
and person-to-person pathogens?

The person does not need to come in contact with another person or food item to
become infected. Simply being in the room can lead to infection.

7. Think about it: Suppose there is an infectious disease at a party. How could doctors tell if
the disease was foodborne, airborne, or transmitted person to person?

Sample answer: Doctors could study the rate of disease transmission and interview patients
to determine where they had been and who or what they had come in contact with before
falling ill. If everybody who ate a certain food became ill, doctors would likely suspect a
foodborne illness. If a group of people who all came in close contact at the party became ill,
doctors would likely suspect a person-to-person disease. If people became ill randomly,
doctors might suspect an airborne disease.

 
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