2004 Exam 2

1. Prions are unique among infectious agents in that they have
(a) DNA and RNA but no Protein
(b) Protein but no DNA or RNA
(c) DNA but not RNA or Protein
(d) RNA but no Protein or DNA
(e) DNA and Protein but no RNA

2. The key to the conversion of a harmless PrP into a pathogenic prion is that
(a) The prion nucleates a misfolding process for the PrP
(b) The PrP mutates from a harmless to a pathogenic form
(c) A “slow virus” converts the PrP into a pathogenic prion
(d) The interaction of a PrP from one species with that of a second causes one of them to become pathogenic
(e) Destruction of most of the harmless PrP opens up room for harmful PrP to grow and become a prion

3. If the entire population of Ann Arbor were to be vaccinated with the current smallpox vaccine, what fraction would get sick enough to miss a day or work or school?
(a) Less than 1%
(b) About 1%
(c) About 3%
(d) About 5%
(e) More than 8% (actually about a third!)

4. If smallpox broke out in Ann Arbor and no vaccination was available, what fraction of the population would die?
(a) Less than 1%
(b) About 1%
(c) About 3%
(d) About 5%
(e) More than 8% (actually about 30%!)

5. A study of transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME) by Richard Marsh led to the demonstration that spongiform encephalopathies could be transmitted by material from infected
(a) Cows
(b) Sheep
(c) Humans
(d) Squirrels
(e) Chickens

6. What caused the original demonstration project invloving treatment of syphilis in the African American population of the rural South to become a study of untreated syphilis?
(a) Appointment of a racist director of the Rosenwald Foundation
(b) Replacement of the public-health-minded Hoover administration by Franklin D.
Roosevelt’s administration
(c) Approach of World War II and the need to transfer money to national defense
(d) Collapse of the US economy
(e) Election of George Wallace as governor of Alabama

7. The first settlement of North and South America by humans occurred
(a) About 2 thousand years ago
(b) 10-15 thousand years ago
(c) 100-200 thousand years ago
(d) 1-2 million years ago
(e) At least 5 million years ago

8. If you were looking at the causative agent of syphilis, its shape would most resemble a
(a) Bunch of grapes
(b) Wine bottle
(c) Wine cork (cylinder)
(d) Corkscrew
(e) Football

9. In the Wassermann (Complement Fixation) Test, what does complement actually recognize?
(a) Treponema pallidum
(b) Cardiolipin
(c) Sheep red blood cells
(d) Human serum
(e) Conformationally changed (bound) antibodies

10. In the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, about five hundred thousand Americans died out of a population of about 85 million. What fraction of the American population died of influenza that year?
(a) Less than 1%
(b) About 1%
(c) About 3%
(d) About 5%
(e) More than 8%

11. Which of the following parts of a cow is probably the safest to eat in terms of risk from “Mad Cow Disease?”
(a) Brain
(b) Spinal cord
(c) Small intestine
(d) Muscle
(e) All of the above (“Mad Cow” does not transmit to humans)

12. The role of smallpox in the defeat of the Aztec empire by Cortez was
(a) Decisive because the epidemic decimated the Aztec civilization before Cortez arrived
(b) Decisive because the epidemic arrived along with the armed forces under Cortez
(c) Important because the epidemic’s arrival, ten years after the defeat, precluded a re-emergence of Aztec military power
(d) Irrelevant because the Aztecs had an innate immunity to smallpox that we are only now beginning to understand
(e) A lie spread by Cortez’ enemies to downplay his role in the defeat

13. Spores are specialized structures designed to allow the organism that makes them to
(a) Survive harsh environments
(b) Digest bacteria to small pieces
(c) Be more pathogenic
(d) Swim in liquids
(e) Secrete toxins

14. The argument that syphilis was NOT a “new” disease introduced to Europe as a result of Columbus’ voyages to the New World rests on
(a) The argument that, with cities as large as London or Paris, such diseases would surely have evolved
(b) The description of syphilis in medical documents from India and China, two places with trading contacts with Europe in pre-Columbian times
(c) The descriptions of the sufferings in the “Lives of the Saints” of the Christian church
(d) The presence of syphilitic bones in a pre-Columbian cemetery in Ireland
(e) The explicit statements of a variety of historians and the leading syphilographer of the period that syphilis was already epidemic in seaport cities before 1492.

15. Vaccination against smallpox involves being infected with
(a) Fully active smallpox virus
(b) A weakened strain of smallpox virus
(c) Dead smallpox virus
(d) A less harmful virus related to smallpox
(e) Antibodies against smallpox

16. The human spongiform encephalopathy known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease occurs spontaneously in all human populations at a frequency of about
(a) One in a hundred
(b) One in a thousand
(c) One in a million
(d) One in a hundred million
(e) One in a billion

17. The standard treatment for syphilis in the US at the time the Tuskeegee Study began was
(a) No treatment at all (just confinement in a sanatorium)
(b) Mercury rubs only
(c) Mercury rubs plus arsphenamine (salvorsan) injections
(d) Mercury rubs plus arsphenamine injections plus penicillin injections
(e) Penicillin injections alone

18. In its late stages, syphilis takes many forms depending on which organs are most affected. As a result it was often thought to be several different diseases. This is also true of
(a) Yaws
(b) Lyme disease
(c) Tuberculosis
(d) Influenza
(e) Bubonic plague

19. Recent cases of avian influenza (“Bird flu”) are raising fears in the Public Health Community because
(a) It is highly transmissible from birds to humans
(b) It is highly transmissible from human to human
(c) It is the same H5N2 strain as the 1918-1919 pandemic
(d) Humans have no immunity to this virus
(e) Immunity to it is powerful and long-lasting

20. Carlton Gajdusek was accused of the same crime as
(a) Kobe Bryant
(b) Pete Rose
(c) Michael Jackson
(d) Scott Peterson
(e) Martha Stewart

21. The most highly developed biological warfare agent currently is
(a) Bacillus anthracis
(b) Treponema pallidum
(c) Influenza virus
(d) Borelia burgdorferi
(e) Vibrio cholerae

22. According to Pat Brown in The Brain Eaters, which of the following rendered prions non-transmissible
(a) Treatment with ionizing radiation
(b) Treatment in a hospital sterilizer
(c) Burial in soil for a few weeks
(d) Heating until ash forms
(e) None of these

23. Nurse Rivers, a key player in the Tuskeegee Study, was recruited from
(a) The US Public Health Service
(b) The Rosenwald Foundation
(c) A local doctor’s office
(d) The Macon County Jail
(e) The Tuskeegee Institute

24. Syphilis is caused by an organism that is MOST similar to the organism that causes
(a) Yaws
(b) Lyme disease
(c) Tuberculosis
(d) Influenza
(e) Bubonic plague

25. The causative agent of influenza is somewhat unusual in that its genetic code is stored in the form of
(a) DNA
(b) RNA
(c) Protein
(d) Hemaglutinin and neuraminidase
(e) Toxic spores

26. The “central dogma” of modern biology states that
(a) DNA codes for RNA which codes for protein
(b) RNA codes for DNA which codes for protein
(c) DNA codes for protein which codes for RNA
(d) Protein codes for DNA which codes for RNA
(e) Protein and RNA together code for DNA

27. Bacillus anthracis kills by
(a) Clogging blood vessels
(b) Clogging alveoli (air sacs in the lung)
(c) Sequestering iron from the blood
(d) Causing dehydration
(e) Secreting toxins