Dear Diary,

When I arrived at the David J Sencer Centers for Disease Control & Prevention museum, the security guard attempted to scare me into thinking the museum was closed. I almost fell for it until someone came in after me and successfully entered. I chose the CDC museum because it’s a federal government facility and my mother works for the Food and Drug Administration. Visiting the FDA at a young age encouraged me to fall in love with science, particularly learning about bacteria. The FDA had a slogan “Fight BAC” to inspire the general public to practice food safety.

I attempted to schedule a tour at the museum online, however, it was required to have 10 or more participants, so I tagged along with a tour group shortly and attempted to blend in. I saw microbes of viruses and bacteria such as Sin Nombre Orthohantavirus (hantavirus), HIV, AIDS, Zika, Polio, and Malaria. I truly enjoyed the museum. I went with a group of women in my class and we enjoyed it so much decided to make a video to commemorate the experience.

I would’ve loved to choose the guinea worm, but unfortunately, it is not a microbe; I chose to study Legionnaire’s Disease instead. The Legionella Pneumophila a bacterium that causes pneumonia of the lungs and can lead to mild Pontiac fever. I have done previous research on Legionella Pneumophila for a project and it was so intriguing, I had to choose it again. The history behind Legionnaires’ Disease (in a post to come) is so intriguing it will have you glued to your seat.

I planned on writing more in this entry but I’m extremely tired and plan on researching my bacterium more for the next post. I’m about to turn in for the night.

Robyn

 

P.S.   I encountered a blood agar plate of the virus Influenza