Schoolchildren experienced a variety of interactive activities to learn about antibiotic resistance
Pharmacy students at the University of Manchester have developed a bacteria roadshow to highlight to primary and secondary school pupils about antibiotics and bacterial resistance to them. Sally Freeman, Farah Haque and Saambra Lian explain
World Health Day (7 April) focuses on combating antibiotic resistance. This day highlights that resistance is a worldwide threat and urgent action is needed to prevent its global spread. As more resistant bacteria develop, fewer antibiotics are effective and there is a real fear that we may regress to the pre-antibiotic days when infections such as tuberculosis will once again become endemic. So the key message from the World Health Organization is “No action today, no cure tomorrow”.
There are steps that can be taken by everyone to prevent resistance developing. Pharmacists play an integral role in resistance prevention by ensuring patients are advised to complete a prescribed antibiotic course and helping to recognise symptoms of viral infections. They also have a major role in explaining why antibiotics will not always work and can offer remedies to help deal with the symptoms of simple viral infections. This will, hopefully, deter patients from requesting antibiotics from their GP.
A group of final-year pharmacy students at the University of Manchester formed the “B team” to spread this important message to school children across Greater Manchester. Their dedication to this project has been inspired by a group member who had a life-threatening streptococcal infection that resulted in the amputation of both legs.
The team developed “The bacteria roadshow”, which started its tour with an event in the annual Manchester Science Festival in October 2010. The event consisted of a variety of stations, with interactive and stimulating activities to teach primary and secondary schoolchildren about antibiotic resistance.
Pupils and their families were taught that bacteria can be both useful and detrimental to health, illustrated by the benefits of probiotic drinks and life-threatening infections, such as meningitis. The children were also able to view stained bacteria under the microscope.
After learning the differences between bacterial and viral illnesses, pupils were introduced to antibiotics. Using molecular models, the pupils built structures of antibiotics, including penicillin, amoxicillin, chloramphenicol, sulfadiazine and ethambutol, as well as being able to view them in 3D with 3D glasses. Further information on these specific antibiotics was provided by playing a game of “top trumps”, where they were categorised by date of discovery, molecular weight, “power” and resistance.
The concept of how bacterial resistance emerges was demonstrated by polystyrene pieces being used to illustrate how rapidly bacterial growth occurs, using a specified doubling time. In addition, a game of skittles was used alongside to demonstrate resistance, where the most resistant bacteria were the hardest to knock down.
Finally, pupils were taught that prevention is better than cure. They were taught the correct hand-washing technique through a hand wash rap-song. Glo Germ was used under UV light to demonstrate just how well they washed their hands.
The roadshow has since travelled to Trinity High School for a careers/GSCE selection event. Here, there was a focus on the potential roles of pharmacists in combating bacterial infections, whether it is in the community, industry or hospital.
Two successful events have also taken place at the University of Manchester, where year 6 pupils from Ribble Drive and Canon Johnson primary schools participated in the activities. A portable mock pharmacy has been developed to give children in mini-lab coats an opportunity to be pharmacists by writing prescriptions and dispensing dummy antibiotics.
Our final stop of the tour was at the University of Manchester’s science fair, which is part of National Science and Engineering week from 15–17 March. Over 300 secondary school pupils attended each day, where the “B team” encouraged them to take science at GCSE and introduced them to pharmacy as an excellent professional career option.
Sally Freeman is reader in chemistry, and Farah Haque and Saambra Lian are fourth-year pharmacy students, all at the University of Manchester
