A Protective Device: Research and Site Model

The project is to design a protective device against a chosen disaster agent, and I chose to research the Plague. Bubonic plague killed millions of people in the Middle Ages, but there's actually been cases of this infectious disease in the last fifty years - found in parts of California, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. Plague is caused by the organism yersinia pestis, and it infects the lymph nodes, lungs, and blood. Fleas bite diseased rats, becoming infected, and in turn bite humans, transferring the disease. Symptoms include high fever, chills, and buboes on the skin. Rural plague is a modern form of the disease - hunters in mountainous areas contract plague from flea bites while handling killed animals. So my narrative is that of a hunter in the mountains, and my protective device is for the hand. Our first assignment is to model the topography of our site, and my first step will be to create a cast or paper mache form of my hand from which to measure and import into Rhino. It'll be a difficult feat, but I'm keeping my flour and water-covered fingers crossed!