Infectious Respiratory Disease

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 25.05.09

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Demographics and Rationale
  3. Research Content
  4. Teaching strategies
  5. Classroom Activities
  6. Bibliography
  7. Materials for Classroom Use
  8. Appendix on Implementing District Standards
  9. Notes

Caring for Each Other: Germs, Health, and Community Responsibility

Alexandra E. Amirato

Published September 2025

Tools for this Unit:

Bibliography

About Adenovirus,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last modified November 1, 2024, accessed July 11, 2025, https://www.cdc.gov/adenovirus/about/index.html.

Allergy & Asthma Network, “Allergy & Asthma Network: Your Trusted Resource,” Allergy & Asthma Network, accessed July 12, 2025, https://allergyasthmanetwork.org/

Alojz Božič and Matjaž Kanduč, “Relative Humidity in Droplet and Airborne Transmission of Disease,” Journal of Biological Physics 47, no. 1 (March 2021): 1–29, PMC 7872882, doi:10.1007/s10867-020-09562-5.

American Lung Association, “Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS),” Lung.org (last updated February 20, 2025), accessed July 12, 2025, https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/middle-eastern-respiratory-syndrome-mers. ()

Bloomfield, S. F., Rook, G. A. W., Scott, E. A., Shanahan, F., Stanwell-Smith, R., & Turner, P. “Too Clean, or Not Too Clean: The Hygiene Hypothesis and Home Hygiene.” Clinical & Experimental Allergy 36, no. 4 (March 24, 2006): 402–425. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2222.2006.02463.x.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “About Rhinoviruses – Signs and Symptoms.” Published April 24, 2024. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed [July 10]. https://www.cdc.gov/rhinoviruses/about/index.html#cdc_disease_basics_symptoms-signs-and-symptoms.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “COVID-19 Timeline,” David J. Sencer CDC Museum (2022), accessed July 13, 2025, https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “SARS Basics Fact Sheet,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (archived, last reviewed ca. 2005), accessed July 11, 2025, https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/sars/about/fs-sars.html.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Types of COVID-19 Treatment,” CDC, last updated May 2025, accessed July 14, 2025, https://www.cdc.gov/covid/treatment/index.html.

Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning, “Learning Through Discussion,” Center for Teaching and Learning, Columbia University, accessed July 15, 2025, ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/resources/learning-through-discussion/.

Experiential Learning Institute. “What Is Experiential Learning?” Experiential Learning Institute. Last modified [date unavailable]. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://experientiallearninginstitute.org/what-is-experiential-learning/.

Krug, Sierra. “Virginia’s Capital Is Now an Asthma Capital, Report Ranks Richmond 8th Worst Place to Live with Allergies, Asthma.” WRIC ABC 8News, May 7, 2025. www.wric.com/news/local-news/richmond/virginias-capital-is-now-an-asthma-capital-report-ranks-richmond-8th-worst-place-to-live-with-allergies-asthma/.

Lesley University. “Empowering Students: The 5E Model Explained.” Lesley University, last modified July 8, 2022. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://lesley.edu/article/empowering-students-the-5e-model-explained.

Leung, K., Gardner, H., Hall, G., O’Reilly, K., Jeoffroy, S., Fielding, J., and McCaw, J. M.  “Understanding the Risk of Transmission of Respiratory Viral Infections in Childcare Centres: Protocol for the Diseases Transmission in Childcare (DISTANCE) Multicentre Cohort Study.” BMJ Open 12, no. 8 (2022): e060606. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2022-060606.

Lidia Morawska et al., “How Can Airborne Transmission of COVID-19 Indoors Be Minimised?” Environment International 142 (September 2020): Article 105832, doi:10.1016/j.envint.2020.105832.

Mayo Clinic Staff. “Childhood Asthma: Diagnosis & Treatment.” Mayo Clinic, last reviewed approximately April 2023. Accessed July 12, 2025. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/childhood-asthma/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20351513.

Nappo, Raffaele, Luca D'Elia, Luana Salerno, and Domenico Ursini. The Impact of COVID-19 on Learning Loss in Elementary School Students: A Comparative Study of Academic Performance across Grades, November 14, 2024. doi:10.20944/preprints202411.1031.v1.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Education in the Time of COVID, Topical Studies: COVID-19 and Education (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, August 2022), accessed July 13, 2025, https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/annualreports/topical-studies/covid/.

Nemours KidsHealth, “Dealing With Triggers: Dust Mites,” KidsHealth (for Parents) (published ~March 2022), accessed July 13, 2025, https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/dealing-dust-mites.html.

Peter Poczai and László Z. Karvalics, “The Little-Known History of Cleanliness and the Forgotten Pioneers of Handwashing,” Frontiers in Public Health 10 (October 20, 2022): article 979464, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.979464.

Samantha E. Jacobs, Daryl M. Lamson, Kirsten St George, and Thomas J. Walsh, “Human Rhinoviruses,” Clinical Microbiology Reviews 26, no. 1 (January 2013): 135–62, https://doi.org/10.1128/CMR.00077-12. PMCID: PMC3553670.

“Second­Generation Adenovirus Vectors,” Stanford University School of Medicine Viral Gene Transfer Laboratory, accessed July 11, 2025, https://web.stanford.edu/group/virus/adeno/2004takahashi/webpage/second.html.

Steven E. Jacobs, David M. Lamson, Karen St George, and Thomas J. Walsh, “Human Rhinoviruses,” Clinical Microbiology Reviews 26, no. 1 (January 2013): 135–62, https://doi.org/10.1128/CMR.00077-12.

Tammy J. Toney-Butler, Adi Gasner, and Niki Carver, “Hand Hygiene,” in StatPearls [Internet] (Treasure Island, FL: StatPearls Publishing, 2025– ), last updated July 31, 2023, NCBI Bookshelf, National Library of Medicine, “Hand Hygiene,” in StatPearls (accessed July 9, 2025), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470254/

Tomasz Olszak et al., “Microbial Exposure During Early Life Has Persistent Effects on Natural Killer T Cell Function,” Science 336, no. 6080 (June 8, 2012): 489–93, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3437652/.

United States Environmental Protection Agency, Fact Sheet: Mold in Schools, Indoor Environments Division (6609J), Environmental Protection Agency (reprinted August 2014), accessed July 13, 2025, https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2014-08/documents/moldfactsheet.pdf.

United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Mold Exposure and Respiratory Conditions in Young Children,” EPA Children’s Health (updated September 18, 2024), accessed July 13, 2025, https://www.epa.gov/children/mold-exposure-and-respiratory-conditions-young-children.

United States Environmental Protection Agency, “What Are Molds?” EPA, last updated September 2024, accessed July 13, 2025, https://www.epa.gov/mold/what-are-molds.

World Health Organization. “Coronavirus disease (COVID-19).” Health Topics, World Health Organization. Published n.d.; accessed July 13, 2025. https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus#tab=tab_1.

World Health Organization, “MERS Outbreaks,” WHO EMRO, updated June 2025, accessed July 12, 2025, https://www.emro.who.int/health-topics/mers-cov/mers-outbreaks.html.

Worldometer, “COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic — Cases by Country,” Worldometer (last updated April 13, 2024), accessed July 13, 2025, https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries.

Yale Medicine. “Coronavirus.” Yale Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, published approximately May 2022. Accessed July 11, 2025. https://www.yalemedicine.org/conditions/coronavirus.

Zulli, Alessandro, Emmanuel D. Ogunbayo, Suzanne M. Fiscus, and Joan M. Duggan. “Occurrence of Respiratory Viruses on School Desks.” American Journal of Infection Control 49, no. 4 (April 2021): 464–468. doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2020.12.006.

Appendix on Implementing District Standards

Comments:

Add a Comment

Characters Left: 500