Deck 32: Epidemiology

Question 1

The most common organism associated with urinary tract infections in hospitals is

A) Escherichia coli.
B) Candida albicans.
C) Staphylococcus aureus.
D) Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Disease is measured by the total number of new reported disease cases within a population over a period of time.

A) morbidity
B) incidence
C) frequency
D) prevalence

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following has the highest mutation rate?

A) Staphylococcus aureus
B) HIV
C) Streptococcus pneumoniae
D) Escherichia coli

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which is NOT a disease for which quarantine is required?

A) plague
B) smallpox
C) SARS
D) cholera

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT a vector important in disease transmission?

A) rodents
B) insects
C) ticks
D) fomites

Question 6

An example of a cyclical disease is

A) anthrax.
B) diphtheria.
C) smallpox.
D) influenza.

Question 7

Initial case studies in the United States suggested an unusually high AIDS prevalence among

A) intravenous (IV) drug users.
B) homosexual men.
C) homosexual men and IV drug users.
D) transfusion recipients.

Question 8

A marked seasonality to a disease is often indicative of

A) a seasonal reservoir.
B) the presence of carriers.
C) a zoonotic infection.
D) certain modes of transmission.

Question 9

Treponema pallidum cannot be spread via fomites, because the bacterium

A) adheres to fomites in such a way that it cannot be picked up without being destroyed.
B) lives within the host cell, so it would never be found on a fomite.
C) infects the fomites, causing them to become secondary hosts.
D) is so sensitive to drying that it cannot survive away from the body.

Question 10

Hospital and nursing home patients are susceptible to serious infections because

A) the use of antibiotics selects for antibiotic- resistant organisms.
B) many patients have low resistance to infectious diseases.
C) many diverse human reservoirs are present.
D) of all of the above.

Question 11

A ground- glass appearance on blood agar is characteristic of

A) Bacillus anthracis.
B) Streptococcus pyogenes.
C) Escherichia coli.
D) Yersinia pestis.

Question 12

Which of the following diseases is NOT normally spread by a common source?

A) cholera
B) waterborne diseases
C) foodborne diseases
D) measles

Question 13

Which of the following is an example of herd immunity?

A) Brucellosis is no longer found in farm animals in the United States.
B) Federal law requires that all cattle not immune to anthrax be destroyed.
C) If 70% of the population is immunized against polio, the disease will be essentially absent from the population.
D) All farm animals used for food must be immunized against all the common agents of disease that infect humans.

Question 14

The H1N1 strain of influenza virus, which caused a pandemic in 2009, was the result of genome rearrangement of which viruses?

A) bird and human influenza viruses
B) bird and swine influenza viruses
C) bird, cattle, human, and swine viruses
D) bird, human, and swine influenza viruses

Question 15

Which group of organisms is considered a major epidemiological problem because of their rapid, unpredictable genetic mutations?

A) RNA viruses
B) gram- positive bacteria
C) Archaea
D) DNA viruses

Question 16

Which body site is preferentially infected by nosocomial pathogens?

A) gastrointestinal tract
B) cerebrospinal fluid
C) respiratory tract
D) liver

Question 17

An inanimate object that transmits infectious agents between hosts is most appropriately called a

A) carrier.
B) vector.
C) fomite.
D) reservoir.

Question 18

Which of the following is/are considered (a) direct contact infection(s)?

A) syphilis
B) skin infections
C) gonorrhea
D) all of the above

Question 19

Where is the causative agent of anthrax, Bacillus anthracis, typically found?

A) in human reservoirs
B) in cattle reservoirs
C) in soil
D) in rodent reservoirs

Question 20

A nonliving source of infectious agents that infects large populations of people is called

A) vehicles.
B) vectors.
C) fomites.
D) reservoirs.

Question 21

The study of the occurrence, distribution, and determinants of health and disease in a population is the field of .

Question 22

Which stage of an acute infectious disease occurs between the time the organism begins to grow in the host and the appearance of disease symptoms?

A) infection
B) decline period
C) incubation period
D) acute period

Question 23

Pasteurization of milk helped eliminate the spread of _ _ to humans.

Question 24

are diseases that primarily infect animals but are occasionally transmitted to humans.

A) Vector infections
B) Nosocomial infections
C) Muduranes
D) Zoonoses

Question 25

The most common vectorborne disease in the United States is

A) rabies.
B) enterohemorrhagic fever.
C) Lyme disease.
D) malaria.

Question 26

In 2003 the majority of AIDS deaths occurred in _ .

Question 27

The term is applied to strains and preparations of Bacillus anthracis that exhibit properties that enhance dissemination and use as biological weapons.

Question 28

"Typhoid Mary" is a classic example of a(n) , because she was infected by the causative agent for typhoid fever yet was asymptomatic.

Question 29

The number of ill individuals within a population is referred to as

A) residency.
B) morbidity.
C) mortality.
D) prevalence.

Question 30

Which of the following is one of the most important and widespread hospital pathogens, is the most common cause of pneumonia, is the third most common cause of blood infections, and is often resistant to common antibiotics?

A) Klebsiella pneumoniae
B) Staphylococcus aureus
C) Escherichia coli
D) Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Question 31

A disease that is present in unusually high numbers throughout the world is called a(n)

A) epidemic.
B) sporadic.
C) endemic.
D) pandemic.

Question 32

A large number of cases of a particular disease observed in a relatively short period of time in an area that previously experienced only sporadic cases of the disease is known as a(n)

A) outbreak.
B) endemic.
C) pandemic.
D) zoonosis.

Question 33

Filoviruses generally have a mortality rate of greater than percent.

A) 20
B) 80
C) 5
D) 60

Question 34

An animal reservoir for SARS is

A) insects.
B) bats.
C) civet cats.
D) rodents.

Question 35

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is caused by

A) a rhinovirus.
B) the influenza virus.
C) a coronavirus.
D) Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Question 36

Potential candidates for biological warfare

A) are eukaryotic rather than prokaryotic.
B) are generally gram- negative rather than gram- positive.
C) can be virtually any pathogenic bacterium or virus.
D) must be genetically engineered to be effective.

Question 37

Which organism contaminated the municipal water supply of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1993 and resulted in over 400,000 cases of intestinal disease?

A) Vibrio cholera
B) Cryptosporidium
C) Escherichia coli
D) Bordetella pertussis

Question 38

Which of the following is an example of an opportunistic pathogen found in a hospital environment?

A) Klebsiella pneumoniae
B) Pseudomonas aeruginosa
C) Escherichia coli
D) Staphylococcus aureus

Question 39

Epidemiological studies of AIDS in Africa have confirmed that _ transmission of the virus is the norm.

Question 40

The onset of a given epidemic is indicated by a sharp rise in the number of cases reported daily over a brief interval. This indicates that the mode of transmission is

A) mechanical vector.
B) insect vector.
C) a common source.
D) host to host.

Question 41

The World Health Organization (WHO) has presently targeted _ as a disease for eradication.

Question 42

The virus introduced into Australia in 1950 to control the rabbit population was _ , which was spread among rabbits by .

Question 43

Individuals who show no symptoms or only mild symptoms are said to have .

Question 44

In the United States and other developed countries, deaths due to infectious diseases are decreasing.

Question 45

Based on recent hospital studies, Escherichia coli seems to be decreasing in pathogenic virulence.

Question 46

Reservoirs of infectious disease agents may be either animate or inanimate.

Question 47

With regard to mode of disease transmission, respiratory pathogens are generally
, and intestinal pathogens are generally spread by contaminated and contaminated .

Question 48

Diseases that suddenly become prevalent are referred to as diseases.

Question 49

Disease cases that exhibit new syndromes or characteristics, or are linked to new pathogens, are surveyed through regional laboratories and are called .

Question 50

Virtually all mosquito- transmitted encephalitis viruses cause disease primarily during the
months.

Question 51

Candida albicans is a(n) , because it is generally causes disease only in those with immunocompromised systems.

Question 52

Currently, about 100 cases of are reported each year in the United States, over half due to infections imported by visitors from other countries.

Question 53

The disease incidence showing a relatively slow, progressive rise and a gradual decline is indicative of a(n) epidemic.

Question 54

A disease that is constantly present in low numbers is called an acute disease.

Question 55

In just over a decade of efforts, the World Health Organization (WHO) eradicated smallpox through worldwide _ _.

Question 56

The two main categories of biological weapons classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are _ and , which are distinguished from one another due to their _.

Question 57

Virtually all individuals who are at risk for acquiring HIV share two specific behavior patterns, which are _ and .

Question 58

People who have a subclinical case of a disease are frequently of a particular disease.

Question 59

SARS- CoV is spread among humans by , _ _, , or .

Question 60

In the absence of susceptible hosts, Clostridium tetani would still survive in nature.

Question 61

Staphylococci can cause several different skin diseases such as pimples.

Question 62

Explain how increasing water surface area, such as enlarging a shoreline during damming, can also increase the incidence of disease in the area. Also indicate a disease that can increase due to this action.

Question 63

Food and water are considered disease vehicles.

Question 64

What is RHDV? What are the pros and cons of using RHDV environmentally?

Question 65

Describe three reasons why infectious diseases are easily spread in hospital environments.

Question 66

When the life cycle of a disease agent is dependent on a single host species the pathogen can be eradicated.

Question 67

Differentiate between acute and chronic carriers of a disease.

Question 68

To control a disease in a population, 100% immunization is necessary.

Question 69

Differentiate between common- source and host- to- host epidemics.

Question 70

Upper respiratory infectious agents are commonly transmitted from person to person.

Question 71

Many pathogenic organisms require living hosts as reservoirs to survive.

Question 72

Morbidity statistics more precisely define the health of a population than mortality statistics.

Question 73

Certain therapeutic drugs increase susceptibility to infection.

Question 74

Botswana and Swaziland have roughly 25% of the adult population infected with HIV.

Question 75

An endemic disease is constantly present, usually at low incidence, in a population.

Question 76

Nosocomial pathogens are often found as normal flora in either patients or hospital staff.

Question 77

Ringworm is a skin disease caused by microscopic eukaryotic worms.

Question 78

Failure to reach equilibrium with a disease agent could result in extinction for a host species.

Question 79

Many parasites use antigenic variation to decrease virulence within a specific host.

Question 80

The incidence of HIV among hemophiliacs and transfusion recipients has remained constant since 1994.