Deck 5: The Microbiology of History and the History of Microbiology

Question 1

Why is a large population of hosts more important for the maintenance of a "crowd disease" than it is for other types of diseases?

Answer 1

"Crowd diseases" are acute in nature. Once a host is infected, the pathogen replicates rapidly, symptoms appear quickly, and the host usually either recovers relatively quickly and develops immunity to the disease, or dies. For the pathogen causing the disease, this means that if it spreads through a population, it can quickly "use up" its potential hosts, since most individuals are now either immune to a subsequent infection or dead. To survive, therefore, the pathogen requires a large population (a "crowd") of hosts, to insure there are always an adequate number of susceptible individuals in the population, in which the pathogen can reproduce. Other, chronic diseases do not necessarily require such large populations of hosts, because when a pathogen causing such a disease infects a host, the infection can last indefinitely, reducing the need for the pathogen to quickly find new hosts to infect.

Question 2

Which of the following factors was cited as a contributing cause to the end of the English feudal system?

A) a labor shortage caused by high mortality due to the "black death"
B) a disruption of transport in England caused by a fear of smallpox
C) a still unidentified disease outbreak that preferentially killed landowners
D) a series of very wet years that promoted increased mosquito numbers, and therefore an epidemic of malaria
E) an outbreak of a serious plant pathogen that caused crops to fail, initiating a famine

Answer 2

A

Question 3

A serious disease outbreak that affects a large portion of the world is called a(n):

A) epidemic.
B) pandemic.
C) endemic.
D) zoonosis.
E) nosocomial infection.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following diseases played the biggest part in defeating Napoleon in his attempt to conquer Russia?

A) typhus
B) typhoid
C) bubonic plague
D) malaria
E) smallpox

Question 5

Which of the following early contributors to the development of microbiology as a science is not paired up properly with his or her accomplishment?

A) Louis Pasteur: demonstrated that contaminating bacteria were responsible for wine spoilage
B) Joseph Lister: developed aseptic technique
C) Florence Nightingale: introduced the idea of sanitation to hospitals
D) Ignaz Semmelweis: was the first to show that a specific microbe could cause a specific disease
E) Robert Koch: developed pure culture technique

Question 6

What was the important contribution to microbiology made by Anton Van Leeuwenhoek in the 1600s?

A) He invented the microscope.
B) He was the first to observe microorganisms.
C) He disproved spontaneous generation.
D) He was the first to show that a disease could be caused by a microorganism.
E) He was the first to describe fermentation.

Question 7

The principle of attenuation discovered by Pasteur had important implications for:

A) antibiotic development.
B) vaccine development.
C) aseptic surgery.
D) pure culture technique.
E) the development of variolation as a defense against smallpox.

Question 8

What is the danger associated with agricultural monocultures?

Question 9

What are Koch's Postulates? Explain how they are used to determine the cause of a particular disease.

Question 10

Four flasks are prepared with a broth that supports microbial growth. Broth A is boiled and then sealed to prevent the entry of air. Broth B is boiled and left open to the air. Broth C is boiled and left open, but the flask is fitted with an S-shaped neck. Broth D is boiled, left open to the air, and fitted with an S-shaped neck, but after two days the neck is removed. If the broths are examined after four days, which ones will contain living microorganisms?

A) All broths will contain microorganisms.
B) None of the broths will contain microorganisms.
C) broths B & D
D) broths A & C
E) broths B, C & D

Question 11

Which of the following was not cited as a possible partial explanation for the decline of the Roman Empire?

A) pressure from Germanic tribesman along the Empire's northern border
B) declining agricultural production near the capital at Rome
C) the difficulties involved in administrating such a large geographic area
D) epidemic malaria in and around Rome
E) incursions into the empire by Arabic tribesmen from North Africa

Question 12

Which of the following statements about the Weil-Felix test for typhus is false?

A) It relies on the fact that antibodies generated against Rickettsia do not react with Proteus OX19.
B) It relies on cross-reactivity between the pathogen and the soil bacterium.
C) When blood serum is drawn from a person to be tested, the serum is mixed with a solution containing Proteus OX19.
D) Humans are not normally infected with Proteus OX19.
E) If the individual being tested is positive, clumping will be seen on the test slide.

Question 13

Which of the following is not a vector-borne disease?

A) bubonic plague
B) yellow fever
C) malaria
D) typhus
E) anthrax