Chapter 16
You are hired as an epidemiologist for the following study. You wish to determine if potato salad, served at a local farmer's market a month ago, caused an outbreak of a food-borne illness. You specifically interview individuals who had eaten potato salad and developed the illness, as well as individuals who ate the potato salad and did not develop illness. Based on this description, which type of study was conducted?
Case control
Which agency monitors notifiable diseases in the United States?
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
SARS first occurred in ________, before becoming a(n) ________ disease. Choose the correct pair from the following.
China, pandemic
All etiologic agents are pathogens.
False
An individual with human papillomavirus (HPV) who has genital warts can transmit HPV to their partner via kissing on the lips.
False
Etiology is the study of the transmission of diseases.
False
The WHO only monitors the prevalence of infectious diseases around the world.
False
Who traced the typhoid outbreak of 1900-1915 to Mary Mallon?
George Soper
Match the pathogen to the disease it causes: Trypanosoma brucei
African sleeping sickness
The tsetse fly transmits which disease?
African sleeping sickness
Robert Koch was the first to conclusively determine the causative agent of which disease?
Anthrax
Which of the following is true about modern emerging diseases?
They occur in both developing and developed countries.
Match the type of spread to the best description: Point-source spread
Transmitted from a common source that operates for less than the incubation time of a pathogen.
Match the type of spread to the best description: Continuous-source spread
Transmitted from a common source that operates for longer than the incubation time for a pathogen.
Match the type of spread to the best description: Intermittent-source spread
Transmitted from a common source that operates sporadically.
Match the type of spread to the best description: Common-source spread
Transmitted from a single source to all individuals infected.
Humans can be reservoirs for pathogens.
True
In experimental epidemiological studies, study subjects are manipulated in some manner.
True
In the 1800s, nosocomial diseases were prevalent.
True
Lyme disease is more prevalent in the northern hemisphere.
True
Nosocomial infections can be acquired in hospital settings.
True
The prevalence of HIV is generally higher than its incidence.
True
Which is the transmission mechanism for West Nile Virus?
Vector
Tuberculosis is typically transmitted via which of the following?
air
Which of the following most specifically describes a notifiable disease?
any disease of public health importance
Infected fleas that have the bacterium Yersinia pestis growing inside them are able to transmit plague. In this case, the infected fleas are best described as which of the following?
biological vectors
John Snow developed a detailed map (the "ghost map") to investigate the etiology of which disease?
cholera
Sexually transmitted diseases between sexually active partners are most commonly transmitted by which method?
horizontal direct contact
Match the pathogen to the disease it causes: Borrelia burgdorferi
Lyme disease
Which of the following is not a notifiable disease?
MRSA
Match the pathogen to the disease it causes: Plasmodium falciparum
Malaria
Which of the following is not a fomite?
Nurse
Match the type of spread to the best description: Propagated spread
Occurs through direct or indirect person-to-person contact.
How long does rhinovirus survive outside physiological fluids?
less than a day
A fruit fly lands on cow feces and then flies over to a bowl of watermelon being served at a farm picnic. The fruit fly in this example is which of the following?
mechanical vector
Which of the following is not an example of evidence used by John Snow to determine that cholera was being transmitted by water in London in the 1800s?
microscopic examination of water
Florence Nightingale's 1958 book included graphs showing that many casualties she observed were due to which of the following?
preventable infectious diseases
Which type of studies gathers data from past cases to study present-day cases?
retrospective
Tetanus, which is caused by Clostridium tetani, is an example of which type of disease?
sporadic
Listeria monocytogenes, the causative agent of listeriosis, can pass through the blood-placenta barrier to infect a fetus. This type of transmission to the fetus is known as which of the following?
vertical direct contact
Match the pathogen to the disease it causes: Yersenia pestis
Plague
Which of the following statements about quarantine is false?
Public health authorities can quarantine patients for any diseases.
Match the pathogen to the disease it causes: Rickettsia rickettsii
Rocky moutnfain spotted fever
Match the outbreak to its proper description: pandemic
A disease increases in frequency worldwide.
Match the outbreak to its proper description: endemic
A disease occurs at a relatively constant and often low level within a population.
Match the outbreak to its proper description: sporadic
A disease occurs relatively rarely, without a geographic focus.
Match the outbreak to its proper description: epidemic
A disease produces more cases than expected within a short time in a localized area.
Which term refers to the study of the geographic distribution of disease and its transmission?
epidemiology
Which term refers to the study of the cause of disease?
etiology
You wish to determine if a new drug can cure individuals with colds caused by rhinoviruses. You invite 50 individuals to participate in the study. Using a double-blind approach, 25 individuals get a sugar pill and 25 get the test drug. Based on this description, which type of study was conducted?
experimental
