A 57-Year-Old Woman Was Admitted to a Hospital with an Infected

Multiple Choice

A 57-year-old woman was admitted to a hospital with an infected toe, and the infection was spreading rapidly. The damage was being caused by an unknown microorganism that could not be cultured in the lab. Doctors observed that antibiotics, which kill only prokaryotes, were ineffective. They suspected that the microbe was a fungus, so they tried the drug Amphotericin, which targets the ergosterols in fungal cells. Because animal cells contain cholesterols, not ergosterols, they are unaffected by the drug. Shortly after receiving Amphotericin, the patient improved, her infection ceased, and she was released from the hospital. In this scenario, what was the hypothesis?

A) The infection will spread rapidly.
B) Antibiotics will not kill the microbe because it is a fungal species.
C) If the infection is caused by an animal, then Amphotericin will cure the patient.
D) A microbe that lacks cholesterols is causing the infection.
E) Why didn't the antibiotics kill the microbe that caused the infection?