Question 1

Which of the following types of epidemiology focuses on the distribution, control, and spread of infectious diseases?

Accepted Answer

Infectious disease epidemiology specifically focuses on the study of the distribution, control, and spread of infectious diseases.

Question 2

Which of the following is the only infectious disease to be successfully eradicated globally?

Accepted Answer

Smallpox is the only infectious disease to have been successfully eradicated globally through an extensive vaccination campaign led by the World Health Organization. The last naturally occurring case was reported in 1977.

Question 3

In infectious disease epidemiology, a case is a person who has been exposed to an infectious agent.

Accepted Answer

In infectious disease epidemiology, a case is a person who has been diagnosed with the disease, not just exposed to the infectious agent.

Question 4

An animal or insect that carries an infectious disease is called an):

Accepted Answer

Vectors are organisms, such as ticks or mosquitoes, that carry and transmit infectious pathogens to humans or other animals.

Question 5

Which scientist proposed that if a microbe was responsible for a specific disease then it should be possible to isolate that microbe from an individual with the illness, grow the microbe in a laboratory, infect another individual, and re-isolate the same microbe from the newly infected individual?

Accepted Answer

Robert Koch is known for his contributions to the germ theory of disease, which includes Koch's postulates. These postulates outline the criteria for establishing a causative link between a microbe and a disease, as described in the question.

Question 6

If you create an epidemic curve for an outbreak and see that there are multiple peaks in the number of infections over time, indicating the disease is spreading from person to person, what type of outbreak has occurred?

Accepted Answer

A propagated outbreak is characterized by multiple peaks in the number of infections over time, indicating person-to-person transmission. This pattern differs from point source or continuous source outbreaks, where cases typically arise from a single source or over a more extended period without the distinct peaks seen in propagated outbreaks. Vector-borne outbreaks involve diseases transmitted by vectors like mosquitoes or ticks and do not inherently describe the pattern of spread among humans.

Question 7

A vaccine that is made up of an infectious microbe that has been altered weakened) in the laboratory so that it will cause an immune response but will not cause illness is called an):

Accepted Answer

Live attenuated vaccines are made from microorganisms (viruses or bacteria) that have been weakened under laboratory conditions so that they provoke an immune response without causing the full-blown disease.

Question 8

Dracunculiasis Guinea worm disease) is a vaccine-preventable disease that requires a single dose for lifelong immunity.

Accepted Answer

Dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) is not prevented through vaccination; it is prevented through water filtration, improved sanitation, and health education to prevent water contamination.

Question 9

The final step of an outbreak investigation should be to report the findings to others so that future outbreaks might be prevented.

Accepted Answer

The final step of an outbreak investigation involves communicating the findings and recommendations to those who can implement changes to prevent future outbreaks, making reporting a crucial part of the process.

Question 10

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome SARS) was a completely unique type of coronavirus that had not been seen before it caused a pandemic in 2002.

Accepted Answer

SARS was caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV) that had not been previously identified in humans before the outbreak in 2002.

Question 11

An infectious disease outbreak occurs when there is a higher than expected number of cases of a particular disease.

Accepted Answer

An infectious disease outbreak is defined as the occurrence of cases of disease in excess of what would normally be expected in a defined community, geographical area, or season.

Question 12

The descriptive epidemiology practice of identifying person, place, and time factors is also used in infectious disease epidemiology to describe an outbreak.

Accepted Answer

Descriptive epidemiology indeed involves identifying and summarizing the patterns of a disease in a population by observing the person, place, and time factors. This approach is crucial in infectious disease epidemiology for describing and understanding the scope and characteristics of an outbreak, helping to identify potential sources and modes of transmission.

Question 13

Which of the following factors makes a disease a good candidate for eradication?

Accepted Answer

Diseases that can be prevented with a single dose of vaccine are good candidates for eradication because widespread immunity can be efficiently and effectively achieved, reducing the disease's prevalence and potentially eliminating it.

Question 14

In infectious disease epidemiology, what measure is a useful indicator of the severity of an outbreak, calculated as the number of cases out of the number of susceptible people?

Accepted Answer

The attack rate is a measure used in epidemiology to describe the proportion of people who become ill in a population after exposure to an infectious agent, making it a useful indicator of the severity of an outbreak. It is calculated as the number of new cases divided by the number of susceptible individuals.

Question 15

When an infectious disease is spread by contact transmission, the source releases the microbe into the air, usually by breathing, coughing, or spitting, and the host is exposed.

Accepted Answer

Contact transmission occurs when there is direct or indirect physical contact between an infected source and a susceptible host, not through the release of microbes into the air. Airborne transmission involves microbes being expelled into the air.

Question 16

Which of the following terms is used to describe the phenomenon that not all members of a community must be vaccinated in order to protect the community from an infectious disease outbreak?

Accepted Answer

Herd immunity describes the phenomenon where a sufficient proportion of a population is immune to an infectious disease (through vaccination or previous infections), thereby providing indirect protection to those who are not immune.

Question 17

The process of identifying people who came into contact with an infected person is known in infectious disease epidemiology as the chain of infection.

Accepted Answer

The process described is known as contact tracing, not the chain of infection. The chain of infection refers to the process by which an infectious disease is transmitted from one host to another.

Question 18

Poliovirus is spread through the fecal-oral route and causes inapparent infection in the vast majority of people who contract it.

Accepted Answer

Poliovirus is primarily spread through the fecal-oral route, and most people who contract the virus do not show any visible symptoms, experiencing what is known as an inapparent or asymptomatic infection.

Question 19

The emergence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus HIV) has led to an increase in the number of cases of which other infectious disease, previously in decline for over 30 years?

Accepted Answer

The emergence of HIV has led to an increase in cases of Tuberculosis (TB) because HIV weakens the immune system, making it more difficult for the body to fight TB bacteria.

Question 20

Variolation, an early practice of preventing the spread of disease, was developed using an influenza-like virus from pigs and infecting humans to prevent more serious disease.

Accepted Answer

Variolation was an early method to prevent smallpox by exposing individuals to material from smallpox sores. It did not involve an influenza-like virus from pigs.

Quiz 8: Infectious Disease Epidemiology