A recent major life change, moving to a remote west coast community, has lead to a bit of a shift in what I want to do with my blog life. This space was always meant to be a mix of an online portfolio and a place to share ideas and resources. I might still provide occasional updates, but I wanted to announce that I’m going to focus my efforts on writing about remote coastal living in BC at my new blog “Wild Wet Coast“. Please feel free to drop by there and check out what we are up to!
Hello!
This is the website and portfolio of Hana Kucera. To find out a bit about me, please visit my About page. I am currently in the process of finishing up my thesis, therefore I have let the blog portion of this website languish. I intend to update once things settle down with the thesis, but in the mean time, to find out more about me, please browse the links in the left side bar, read down through some of my previous posts, or download my CV.
Half way through Biology 1622 – Microbes: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, I invited a doctor from the UNB Student Health Centre to come and give a talk about sexually transmitted infections (STIs). I asked students to read this pamphlet and come prepared with four questions each to ask the doctor. With well over 50 students in class that day, there was a huge number of questions. Since we didn’t get to them all, I summarized them and tried to answer as many as I could in the next class. As with so many aspects of teaching this class, I was pleasantly surprised. I appreciated the thoughtfulness and frankness of their questions. I went through the questions, edited them for minor typos (but left the wording as is in most cases) and organized them into a few broad categories. I thought people would be interested in seeing what the students wanted to know about. These students represent all year levels (first through fourth) and are not science majors.
Here are their questions:
Prevalence:
What is the most common STI:
Among University students?
In New Brunswick?
In Canada?
How prevalent are STIs among:
High school students?
Over someone’s entire life?
In Canada generally?
Why does it seem that most of these infections occur in individuals aged 15-24?
Is Chlamydia the most prevalent because it is often asymptomatic?
Are all STIs on the rise or just Chlamydia?
Treatment
Antibiotics
What kind of antibiotics are used to cure infections?
Are antibiotics the most common treatment for STIs?
Are there many/any side effects to the antibiotics taken for STIs?
With the misuse of antibiotics, what is the likelihood that STIs will become resistant?
Since Chlamydia and Gonorrhea have similar symptoms and are both bacteria, does the same antibiotic kill them both? What is the difference between the two?
If someone wanted to get treated with antibiotics can it lead to other STIs?
General treatment questions
How treatable are STIs?
Which STIs are curable?
What is the most curable STI?
Which STI is the easiest to treat? Hardest?
Are there STIs that can not be cured? What happens in that case?
Why is there no cure for herpes yet?
Is there a stage at which treatment is most effective or times when it is ineffective to treat an STI?
Why is it so difficult to combat STIs compared to colds and other infections?
What is a culture swab?
Sex and risk factors in transmission
General inquiries about transmission
Once you get an STI and are cured, can you get it again?
Why are STIs so contagious in comparison to other infections?
Does your risk for STIs decrease or increase with age?
What can women do to avoid passing on an STI to their babies? (Assuming the woman is already infected.)
Are some people immune to STIs?
Even with protection, you can still get HPV, is there anyway to reduce chances of infection?
Can you get an STI from a toilet seat? If so which ones?
Can STIs be transferred by sharing cigarettes?
Questions about sex and not having sex
Can STIs be spread without having sex?
How many of these infections can be passed on by means other than sexual contact?
Can STIs be transferred through oral sex?
How do “crabs” get started?
Can someone still have sexual intercourse after being infected with an STI?
In the pamphlet it suggests to “skip” kissing when dating to avoid infection. Is there a more practical way to avoid infection without skipping kissing?
Social, behavioural and emotional factors
Checkups
Is it recommended that someone who does not consider him/herself highly sexually active get a check up?
How often should you be checked?
STIs and everyday life
Is it shameful to have an STI?
If you have cold sores, does that mean you have herpes and need to tell all of your partners?
Can you have a “normal” sex life and never acquire an STI?
Is there a relationship between being dirty and getting lice/scabbies?
If you have chronic hepatitis B does that mean you can never consume alcohol again?
What if you have regular hepatitis B and the 6 month healing process has passed?
If me and my partner went for STI testing and we are both negative do we still need to use condoms?
If you have sex with someone and are unknowingly carrying an STI and you pass it on to them, can they sue you? If you get annual STI tests, does this make a difference?
Where can I get additional information on campus?
Why have we just recently started hearing about HPV more?
How much does the knowledge of STIs affect the decisions of people in their choice to have sex?
When people know more about these infections do they take sex more seriously?
As knowledge of STIs spreads do you notice any declines in certain infections?
What is the most common misconception about STIs?
Emerging or new STIs
What STIs other than the ones we mentioned in lecture are there?
Have any new STIs emerged in the last five years?
Is it possible that there are more STIs out there that just haven’t been discovered yet?
Can new STIs just appear through time?
Have there always been STIs or have they become a greater concern now than in the past?
Are there any newly discovered STIs?
Signs and symptoms
What is the difference between an infection and a disease?
When it comes to infections that cause discharge, does the discharge occur anytime or only during sex?
What are some of the signs and symptoms of having contracted HPV?
Are all genital warts and sores painful or are some barely sore at all?
How serious are warts and sores?
How long can you be infected before you feel sick?
Does gonorrhea give a green discharge?
Causes and Effects
What causes herpes?
Does herpes go away?
Are yeast infections considered STIs?
Can men get yeast infections? If so, is it common?
What is the difference between Hepatitis B and C?
How many different STIs can occur in a person? Can two infections occur at once?
How long does it take for syphilis to affect the brain?
How does syphilis cause damage to the heart, brain etc.?
Risks associated with STIs
Do all STIs cause infertility if not treated?
How do STIs lead to infertility in people?
How long does it take for Chlamydia to affect your fertility if you are asymptomatic and it could be inside you for a long time?
Aside from spreading infections to others, what are health risks associated with STIs?
What are some health complications of HPV?
By contracting any of these STIs, can it be a precursor to cancer?
What are the major health risk for Gonorrhea?
What are the long term effects of STIs left untreated?
Can any of the STIs mentioned in the pamphlet cause or lead to death?
Which STIs can cause death?
HIV
How can you estimate that 30% of the population has AIDS/HIV and are unaware?
How does HIV destroy people’s immune systems?
Can HIV be spread through saliva?
Why is there no cure for AIDS?
I have heard of someone who was “healed” from HIV (white blood cell count became normal). How is this possible?
Is there ever going to be a cure for AIDS? Are researchers taking many steps today in helping prevent this disease?
Is unprotected intercourse the most common way of contracting HIV/AIDS?
Why is it so hard to develop a vaccine for HIV?
How long does it take to get HIV test results back?
Do we know how and where the HIV virus originated from?
Are gay men more likely to get AIDS or is that a myth left over from the 1980s?
Prevention methods
Barrier methods
What is a dental dam?
What is a female condom?
What is the difference between a female condom and a diaphragm?
If you are allergic to latex, are there other types of condoms that are available?
Do the female and male condom have the same effectiveness or is one better at protecting you from STIs than another?
Is spermicidal lubricant effective?
What are your chances of getting an STI when you use a condom?
Do condoms prevent all forms of STIs?
Vaccines
When were vaccines developed for HPV and Hepatitis B and have there been any long term studies of side effects?
Are there any vaccines that prevent STIs?
Are there any risks with the new Gardasil vaccine since it is so new? What about long term side effects?
Is it true that Gardasil is causing harm to the body?
If you have are in a monogamous relationship, is there still a point in getting the HPV vaccine?
Is there any method to prevent men from getting HPV? Any treatments?
STI testing
Since the symptoms of several STIs are similar, how can doctors know which one you have?
Which STIs are tested for when a Pap is administered?
Why is testing not done usually for males for the STI trichomonas?
Why don’t I get blood tests done when I get a Pap done?
What happens when there are abnormal cells in the Pap? What is the next step?
Why is testing not done usually for males for the STI trichomonas?
If you are young, can you get tested without your parents knowing?
How are STIs tested for?
Do STI tests cost money?
Recently, I’ve started to spend more time interacting and learning on Twitter. Twitter is starting to catch on in a big way; if you want a quick summary, check out David Pogue’s recent New York Times article.
I see Twitter as a way of sharing ideas and resources with people with whom I have something in common, namely a passion for science and education (and a few other fun things). I alluded to some of the benefits I’ve gleaned from Twitter in a previous post and since then, as my network has grown, I’ve had folks share lesson plans, interesting science stories, online resources and even movie recommendations and recipes! I’m happy to say that I’ve contributed a bit to the community as well. I’ve passed on lesson plans of my own, reviewed and commented on people’s educational projects and promoted a few resources. This brings me to Pink Shirt Day.
Pink Shirt Day is a Canadian campaign aimed at stopping bullying. It’s got a neat history and is really starting to take off this year, its second year. Having seen and felt the damage that bullying does, both personally and while working with children as a camp counselor, I’ll be proud to wear a pink shirt on February 25, 2009.
This year when the Pink Shirt Campaign advertising started, I posted the link on Twitter. A few people “Retweeted” and some got in touch with me. One of my Twitter buds, Terri Johnson (known as @terri_science on Twitter) saw the link and got her school involved! Since this is a largely Canadian campaign, it was fantastic that Terri, who lives and works in Missouri, brought her school on board. Another Twitter friend, Jacques Cool, (also known as @zecool) who works with the Department of Education here in New Brunswick also saw the post, and is striving to bring the campaign to the Francophone schools that he works with.
I was astounded how less than 140 characters sent out among millions of tweets can lead to real impacts! Previous to this experience, I had a formula that I applied if I was passionate about something and wanted to make a difference. It went something like this:
Step 1: Be passionate about something.
Step 2: Come up with a good idea or project to promote the thing you’re passionate about.
Step 3: Think, organize, plan. Come up with a realistic way to motivate people to your cause, figure out what resources you’ll need, make a plan on how to execute your idea.
Step 4: Recruit others who are also passionate about your idea to help you.
Step 5: Fundraise, gain supporters, gather resources.
Step 6: Work hard.
Step 7: Success!
Step 8: Tell more people and hope they take on a similar project.
Eight totally worthwhile steps to making your passion a real, working project. I’ve done this in the past and found every step very rewarding. The folks over at the Pink Shirt Day Campaign, lead largely by Christy Clark, are making a real difference and are probably applying a similar formula. My Twitter experience with Pink Shirt Day feels like an incredibly helpful leap to the success step:
Step 1: Be passionate: Bullying must be stopped!
Step 2: Find people who are doing something to make a difference: I thank those two high school students who had the great idea, and also the Pink Shirt Day campaign folks for putting in the hard work.
Step 3: Share idea on Twitter. Idea catches on, more passionate people make a difference in their community.
Step 4: Success!
I am deeply thankful for the incredible folks that make Pink Shirt Day happen, both at the campaign organization level and at each school or business where it takes place. I wanted to point out the power of Twitter as a means of connecting people. All I did was tweet a link to the campaign website followed by my own declaration to wear a pink shirt on February 25. The wonderful folks on Twitter did the rest.
Today was the introductory lecture in my first year non-majors Biology class. The course is called, “Microbes, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”. As part of my first class I handed out a survey to get a feel for students’ understanding of microbes before the course starts. I included questions such as “What are some differences between viruses and bacteria?”, “What causes food poisoning?” and “What causes colds”. The answers I got were varied and interesting.
The last two questions on the survey were most enlightening, because I can use them to direct the course content. Here are the questions. Below each question are all of the answers that I received.
Name one disease that you would like to have more knowledge about.
- Kidney diseases
- Celiac
- Cystic Fibrosis
- Strep Throat
- The Plague
- Leprosy
- Cancer (18 students)
- (Leukemia)
- The Flu (5 students)
- The common cold (why is there no cure?)
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- AIDS (5 students)
- Diabetes
- Flesh eating disease (2 students)
- Scarlet Fever
- SARS
- Bird Flu (2 students)
There were 50 surveys returned. I’m impressed and interested by the answers. Cancer is such a huge interest and concern. I had already planned a lecture on it (even though it is not a microbial disease), so I’m glad to see that so many students want to know about it. There are other non-microbial diseases listed, quite a few, so maybe some time spent on microbial v.s. non-microbial diseases may be worthwhile. Here’s the other question:
Please write down a question that you hope to get the answer to during this course.
- How many disease-causing organisms exist?
- How do epidemics break out and how do they die out?
- More about food poisoning
- What is a microbe? (2 Students)
- What is the difference between bacteria and viruses?
- How do we treat microbes in our life?
- How cancer develops in the human body
- Best ways to keep from getting sick
- Why aren’t viruses treatable?
- Is microbiology an important factor to the human body?
- The evolution of microorganisms contrasted to the evolution of macroorganisms such as animals.
- What is the first microorganism?
- Is there a cure for some of the most known diseases? (e.g. Cancer and diabetes?)
- With all the scientific knowledge that exists, why is there no cure for cancer and AIDS?
- How to prevent illness effectively
- What is the news about the death gene and how does it relate to cancer and chronic health disease?
- What causes cancer and why can’t it be combated completely
- How is birdflu going to wipe out the world?
- Are anti-bacterias [sic] good for us, or should we just allow bacteria to be naturally developed/destroyed (ex. Hand anti-bacteria).
- How do organisms cause disease?
- Why microbes are important and what is the benefits of studying them?
Wow! What a great list! Several of these topics are already in the lecture plan, but it is great to know that the students are interested. Others, I’ll have to look into. I’ll try to answer all of them before the semester finishes.
