Page 36 - 新思维科学学生用书8 样章

1.5 Blood

Project: Helping white blood cells to protect us from pathogens

This project is about how scientific knowledge develops over time, and how scientific
discoveries can help people all over the world.

Background
Our white blood cells are amazing at keeping us safe from pathogens. Most of the
time, they manage to destroy the pathogens so that we recover quickly from an
infection.

But there are some pathogens that white blood cells cannot destroy in time. The

virus that causes rabies is one of these. If the rabies virus gets into a person’s body,
the body needs outside help in order to stop the virus spreading. Without treatment,
most people die if they are infected with the rabies virus.

Your task
You are going to work in a group to find out information about rabies, and how it can
be successfully treated. Each group will work on a different topic.

Choose one or two of the following five topics to research with your group. Also
choose how you will present your findings to others. You could make a poster, or
give an illustrated talk.

Discovering what causes rabies
Who first discovered the cause of rabies, and when did they do this?

First vaccine for rabies
Who created the first vaccine for rabies,
and how did they do this?

How rabies is transmitted
How can a person be infected with rabies?

Preventing rabies
In which countries is rabies most
common? What can people in

these countries do to reduce
the risk of getting rabies?

Treatment for rabies
What should someone do if they
have been bitten by an animal
with rabies? How do rabies

vaccines help our white blood
cells to fight the virus? Illustration of a rabies virus

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