Chain of infection notes
Tue, Nov 17, 2026 · Week 13 · Principles of Biomedical Technology (Principles of Biomedical Science)
Today's goal: Students take notes on the chain of infection, pathogens, and the immune response, then complete the PLTW online task.
This is a model of the work you should turn in today. Use it to check your own: match the structure and the level of detail, do not copy it. Your data and wording should be your own.
Parallel setting, not the hospital: the same notes format worked on a summer-camp stomach bug, so the hospital version stays yours to build.
Chain of infection (six links, in order):
- Infectious agent: norovirus.
- Reservoir: the gut of a camper who is ill.
- Portal of exit: vomit and stool.
- Mode of transmission: hands and a shared serving spoon carry the virus to food (indirect, through a vehicle).
- Portal of entry: the mouth.
- Susceptible host: the next camper in the lunch line.
Where controls break this chain:
- Handwashing with soap after the bathroom removes the virus before it reaches the spoon (mode of transmission).
- Single-use serving utensils take the vehicle out of the chain (mode of transmission).
- Keeping ill campers out of the kitchen for two days after symptoms end closes the reservoir and its portal of exit.
Immune response outline, same format for any pathogen:
- Innate immunity acts immediately and is non-specific: skin, stomach acid, mucus, inflammation, and white blood cells that engulf invaders.
- Adaptive immunity is slower but specific: B cells make antibodies and memory cells form, so the next exposure is met faster.
Key idea: you only have to break one link to stop the spread, so name the link a control actually reaches. For the hospital, map PPE and aseptic technique to their own links yourself.
| Chain link | Camp control that breaks it | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Mode of transmission | Handwashing with soap | Removes the virus before it reaches the spoon |
| Mode of transmission | Single-use serving utensils | Takes the vehicle out of the chain |
| Reservoir and portal of exit | Ill campers kept out of the kitchen | No source in the food line |
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: Completes the infection-control note-taking task: a labeled six-link chain of infection with PPE and aseptic technique mapped to specific links, plus a short innate versus adaptive immunity outline.
- Date and label the entry.
- Record the procedure, observation, or design decision clearly.
- End with what the evidence means and the next step.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Photograph or scan your notes and submit one PDF in Schoology; keep the originals in your notebook for the infection-control case next class.
Turn in: Annotated six-link chain of infection diagram with PPE and aseptic technique mapped to specific links, plus a brief innate vs. adaptive immune response outline.
Go to Schoology to turn this in.
Submit one PDF. Schoology attaches your name to your upload; on the page itself, write your period and code. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf.
Open Schoology PDF upload helpIf you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
Claim ceiling: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about chain of infection notes. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
One exam-style question that uses exactly what you practiced today. Try it before you reveal the answer, then read why each choice is right or wrong.
Tap an answer to see the full explanation. Nothing is recorded or graded.
It builds this reusable test skill: Matching an infection-control measure to the chain-of-infection link it interrupts.
- Name the concept or data pattern being tested.
- Cross out choices that violate that rule or the evidence.
- Justify the best remaining choice before checking the answer.