Science pub trivia designed by Andrew Mapstone (script and flier for hypothetical event at F&A Grog House)
Opener: Hello and welcome to the first “Mind Your Meninges: A Meningitis Trivia Night For The Curious! We believe that education is the key to preventing this disease, and that’s why we’re here tonight. Our goal is to raise awareness about meningitis and to help you better understand the risk factors, symptoms, and prevention strategies. The game is broken into three categories, each with 5 questions that focus on Environmental factors, Host factors and Pathogen factors. The more you answer, correctly, the better. You will be split into two teams and the team with the most points at the end, wins. It is important to mention that not every question will have an obvious correct answer. It is my assumption that not all of you are experts on Bacterial Meningitis, but if you put on your thinking caps, you may see developing patterns that will help to inform you with the next question. I will provide an explanation to each answer after each team has participated in the question. In the end, it is our goal to raise awareness and educate people on this disease that is still affecting people across the globe. I am your host Andrew Mapstone, let’s begin the trivia!
Example question:
Category: Environment
Question 1: There is a clear seasonal pattern to outbreaks of bacterial meningitis in the world. In the northern hemisphere, which includes the U.S., bacterial meningitis cases peak during what seasons?
Answers:
- Summer
- Winter
- Spring
- Fall
Explanation: It has been documented in many studies that there are seasonal trends to the outbreak of bacterial meningitis across all hemispheres of the world. In a study that used country level data of 66 countries including 47 outside the “meningitis belt” in Sub-Saharan Africa, they found persistent seasonality in 96% of the countries; meaning that cases of bacterial meningitis consistently increased during specific seasons in these countries. In the U.S., the winter months from December to March show the highest number of cases of bacterial meningitis. As well, all 3 of the pathogens known to cause most cases of bacterial meningitis (S. pneumoniae, Hib, and N. meningiditis) shared similar seasonality. This relationship between climate and seasonality of bacterial meningitis suggests that the environment is a causal factor due to the conditions during those seasons (Paireau, Chen, Grentell & Basta, 2016).