Caroline Hulbert
2.6.19
Bio 10H
Current Event 2
Chodosh, Sara. “We're Finally Understanding Why Some Kids Get Strep Throat over and over Again.” Popular Science, Bonnier Corporation, 6 Feb. 2019, www.popsci.com/kids-get-strep-throat-again.
For Current Event 2, I read the article “We're Finally Understanding Why Some Kids Get Strep Throat over and over Again” by Sara Chodosh. The article discusses scientists’ research to discover what makes some children more prone to recurrent tonsillitis, or strep infections, than other children. The first study to determine this was done by immunologists, pediatric physicians, and infectious disease researchers from the La Jolla Institute for Immunology and the University of California, San Diego. Group A Streptococcus is a bacterium that is centralized in the tonsils, causing painful swelling and often a fever. While the infection can normally be cleared up with antibiotics, some children experience recurrent tonsillitis, where the infection continues to recur. Researchers began by gathering two groups of children, one group with recurrent tonsillitis and one group with normal tonsillitis. They then matched similar children to each other and observed various markers in their immune systems to try to find differences between them. The tonsils contain germinal centers that produce immune cells crucial to identifying pathogens. It was originally expected that the children with recurrent tonsillitis would have had more of an immune response and more antibodies against strep. However, it was observed that these children actually had less of a response, suggesting that their germinal centers do not function properly during strep infections and immunodeficiency may play a role as well. Because of these results, researchers looked at the human leukocyte antigen, or HLA, which control immune cells and determine the immune response to strep. It was then determined that the children with the least germinal center responses also often had two particular HLA gene mutations than other children. They concluded that some children are less capable of developing immunity to group A Streptococcus, leading to their recurrent tonsillitis.
Chodosh’s article describes the reason that certain children are more prone to developing strep infections than other kids and the research that led to this discovery. Children with recurrent tonsillitis often miss a lot of school due to their infections and also have to take large amounts of antibiotics. This can lead to antibiotic resistance and harm the gut flora. Because of the newly discovered connection between recurrent tonsillitis and the HLA genes, children can now be screened for these gene mutations, determining if they would benefit from a tonsillectomy.
This article was well-written and easy to follow, despite the many medical terms and ideas. Chodesh explained complex phrases and terminology as they appeared, which made it readable without consulting other sources to understand. However, I wish the author had included more information about the children that were studied and also incorporated more background information about the HLA alleles discovered. Had she included this information as she wrote about it, it would have strengthened her work overall.
Ava Chiang 2/14/19
ReplyDeleteBiology H Odd / C Current Event Comment #3
Article Caroline Hulbert read: Chodosh, Sara. “We're Finally Understanding Why Some Kids Get Strep Throat over and over Again.” Popular Science, Bonnier Corporation, 6 Feb. 2019, www.popsci.com/kids-get-strep-throat-again.
The article current event review Caroline wrote for the article “We’re Finally Understanding Why Some Kids Get Strep Throat over and over Again” by Sara Chodosh was very well written. She was concise and to the point when summarizing the article but included many facts and examples to back it up. In addition, Caroline clearly stated the significance of this article to help persuade readers to read Chodosh’s article. The sentences Caroline used in her article were detailed but to the point without including unnecessary information. For example; the sentence “Researchers began by gathering two groups of children, one group with recurrent tonsillitis and one group with normal tonsillitis. They then matched similar children to each other and observed various markers in their immune systems to try to find differences between them” was useful in contextualizing the article and improves the legitimacy of it. It was also an crucial piece of information that was needed for readers to understand what this article was about. Caroline also followed up this statement with many facts to add to this piece of evidence. For example; “the tonsils contain germinal centers that produce immune cells crucial to identifying pathogens” and “researchers looked at the human leukocyte antigen, or HLA, which control immune cells and determine the immune response to strep.” Facts like these makes it easier for me to grasp the main idea of this article and understand the reasoning behind it. Though the way Caroline organized the summary and the amount of evidence she included in her review was remarkable, my favorite part of her work was when she stated the significance of the article. She wrote “Because of the newly discovered connection between recurrent tonsillitis and the HLA genes, children can now be screened for these gene mutations, determining if they would benefit from a tonsillectomy.” This was extremely useful for me to read because while the motive of an article could be understood through reading descriptions, the significance is harder to comprehend. By including this information in her article, Caroline shows how she is a detailed and talented writer.
While I love Caroline’s current event review very much, I hope she can include more information on why she picked this article to read, why it was significant to her in particular, and the impact this article had on her. While this review is articulate and very well-written it seemed too factual and analytical when summarizing the article and explaining its significance. If Caroline included more information on her personal experience while reading this article, it would be more compelling to readers on an emotional level. In addition, she gave an very good example as to how recurrent tonsillitis may affect children when she wrote “Children with recurrent tonsillitis often miss a lot of school due to their infections and also have to take large amounts of antibiotics. This can lead to antibiotic resistance and harm the gut flora.” But I feel like she could expand more on this reason to explain why it affects society as a whole instead of individual students. For example; students with recurrent tonsillitis may cause the infections to go viral at school because of frequent exposure of bacteria and viruses. This would be a bigger problem because while tonsillitis is a relatively minor illness for average children, it may be dangerous to students with immunodeficiency problems.
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I chose to read this review because in 3rd Grade I often had strep throat and missed many days of school, so I thought it would be interesting for me to read about the reasoning behind my frequent infections. This review was helpful in summarizing the reasoning behind frequent contractions of strep throat with many facts to back it up and the smooth flow of the summary made my learning experience easier. This would change my life by making me more conscious of the things I come into contact with in public and how the bacterias on them may affect me.
ReplyDeleteBen Davis
ReplyDelete2-14-19
Core Biology
Current Event 3
Chodosh, Sara. “We're Finally Understanding Why Some Kids Get Strep Throat over and over
Again.” Popular Science, Bonnier Corporation, 6 Feb. 2019, www.popsci.com/kids-get-strep-throat-again.
For this week's current event, I read Caroline Hulbert review of Sara Chodosh’s article “We're Finally Understanding Why Some Kids Get Strep Throat over and over Again.” Throughout her review, Caroline did many things very well. The first thing she did well was she introduced the main idea of the article. Caroline said, “The article discusses scientists’ research to discover what makes some children more prone to recurrent tonsillitis, or strep infections, than other children.” Introducing what the article is going to be about is a crucial component of a good review. Another Caroline did well was she explained through peoples research what causes some kids to get strep throat over and over again. She wrote, “While the infection can normally be cleared up with antibiotics, some children experience recurrent tonsillitis, where the infection continues to recur. Researchers began by gathering two groups of children, one group with recurrent tonsillitis and one group with normal tonsillitis. They then matched similar children to each other and observed various markers in their immune systems to try to find differences between them.” This part of her review did a strong job of explaining the argument made by the author. Caroline did a good job talking about how having recurrent tonsillitis can affect kids. She said, “Children with recurrent tonsillitis often miss a lot of school due to their infections and also have to take large amounts of antibiotics.” Overall her review had many great components.
While Caroline did many things very well in her review, there are a couple of things she can improve on. In her final paragraph, Caroline could have been more specific. She wrote, “This article was well-written and easy to follow, despite the many medical terms and ideas.” Caroline should have elaborated on what those medical terms and ideas were. Another thing Caroline could have done better was her ending to the first paragraph. Instead of ending with a fact from the article, Caroline should have again summed up what the article was about.
Caroline's review taught me a lot about why some people contract strep throat more often than others. I chose to read Caroline’s review, due to the fact that recently I had strep throat. This virus is brutal, it gave me a fever and very bad sore throat. Reading this review was very helpful to me, for it showed me ways I can afford getting sick. As a highschooler missing a day of school can be tough, due to the amount of work you missed and missing practice.