A Young Couple Brings Their 3-Month Old Baby to the Emergency

Multiple Choice

A young couple brings their 3-month old baby to the emergency department where you work as a triage nurse. The parents tell you that the baby had a runny nose, low grade fever, and mild cough two days earlier, which they assumed was a cold. However, the cough has become significantly worse and they are really worried about the gasping sound the child makes when breathing in after a coughing spell. The baby's cough is so bad that she has been vomiting and is refusing to feed. You are concerned that the baby has pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough. You give the parents some information while they are waiting for a physician to examine their child.
-Pertussis is caused by Bordetella pertussis, an encapsulated, aerobic Gram-negative bacterium. You tell Baby A's parents that when Bordetella is inhaled, it attaches specifically to ciliated respiratory epithelial cells. Attachment is facilitated by ________ on the bacterium that attach to specific ________ on the host cells.

A) receptors; adesins
B) adhesins; receptors
C) adhesions; proteins
D) adhesins; flagella
E) adhesions; capsule