1. Variant CJD is to Stanley Prusiner as HIV/AIDS is to
(a) Robert Gallo
(b) Mathilde Krim
(c) Edward Koch
(d) Cleve Jones
(e) Gaetan Dugas
2. Which of these “bodily fluids” is responsible for the most instances of HIV transmission?
(a) Blood
(b) Semen
(c) Vaginal secretions
(d) Breast milk
(e) Urine
3. Which of these would you be least likely to use to determine if an individual has been infected with HIV?
(a) ELISA
(b) Western blot
(c) p24 antigen test
(d) RT-PCR
(e) Wasserman test
4. During brachiproctic manipulation (“anal fisting”) Crisco is often used as a lubricant because
(a) Salmonella typhi can prevent fusion of the vesicles in a phagocyte with lysozomes
(b) It blocks the access of air to the walls of the rectal cavity, preventing the growth of toxic bacteria
(c) HIV is killed by the low water content of fats such as Crisco
(d) The lower bowel absorbs large amounts of water and would render water-based lubricants useless
(e) It is essentially sterile
5. The term “down low” is used to describe
(a) Men having sex with men
(b) Injection drug use
(c) Fisting
(d) Rimming
(e) Oral sex
6. Which of these classes of drugs is not yet available for treating HIV/AIDS?
(a) Protease inhibitors
(b) Reverse transcriptase inhibitors
(c) Integrase inhibitors
(d) gp41 inhibitors
7. In the early 1980’s, operators of the nation’s blood banks made wildly exaggerated claims about how safe the nation’s blood supply was. Now, in 2004, we have a much better estimate of the safety of the current blood supply in the US. The current risk of contracting HIV/AIDS from a blood transfusion is
(a) At least a thousand times lower now than they claimed then
(b) About 20-50 times lower now than they claimed then
(c) About the same now as they claimed then
(d) About 20-50 times higher now than they claimed then
(e) At least a thousand times higher now than they claimed then
8. The gay activist and playwright who argued from the beginning that gay men needed to limit their promiscuous sex was
(a) Mervyn Silverman
(b) Paul Popham
(c) Enno Poersch
(d) Selma Dritz
(e) Larry Kramer
9. The number of Americans who became infected with HIV/AIDS in 2003 numbered in the
(a) Hundreds
(b) Thousands
(c) Tens of thousands
(d) Hundreds of thousands
(e) Millions
10. Which of these is least likely to transmit HIV from an HIV-positive male to an HIV-negative female in the US?
(a) Oral sex resulting in ejaculation and swallowing the semen by the woman
(b) Anal intercourse with proper use of a condom
(c) Anal intercourse without use of a condom
(d) Vaginal intercourse with proper use of a condom
(e) Vaginal intercourse without use of a condom
11. Babies who are born with HIV have an asymptomatic period that is (on average)
(a) Much shorter than adults who become infected
(b) About half as long as adults who become infected
(c) About the same as adults who become infected
(d) Much longer than adults who become infected
12. Oral thrush is caused by a
(a) Yeast
(b) Bacterium
(c) Virus
(d) Worm
(e) Drug overdose
13. The current therapy for HIV/AIDS is know by the acronym
(a) ARC
(b) AZT
(c) HAART
(d) TDC
(e) OI
14. Which of these diseases results in visible tumors well supplied with blood
(a) Bacilliary angiomatosis
(b) Candidiasis
(c) Cryptosporidiosis
(d) Toxoplasmosis
(e) Oral hairy leukoplakia
15. In AIDS patients, Kaposi’s sarcoma is caused by
(a) A sexually transmitted bacterium
(b) An airborne bacterium related to tuberculosis
(c) A fungus found in bird droppings
(d) A fungus transmitted in cat feces and urine
(e) A sexually transmitted herpes virus
16. A substantial number of AIDS victims go blind because of an untreatable opportunistic infection by
(a) Giardia
(b) Cryptosporidium
(c) Candida
(d) MAC
(e) Cytomegalovirus
17. The risk that an Arfican-american woman will contract HIV/AIDS in the US is
(a) About 10 fold lower than the risk for women in general
(b) About 2 fold less than the risk for women in general
(c) About the same as the risk for women in general
(d) About 2 fold higher than the risk for women in general
(e) About 10 fold higher than the risk for women in general
18. During the asymptomatic stage of HIV/AIDS, infected individuals appear healthy. During this stage
(a) Very few virus are produced, but DNA copies of the virus lie in wait to be activated by later immune crises
(b) Very few virus are produced but these few slowly kill off T4 helper cells, a process that takes years to complete.
(c) Very many virus are produced but these are not particularly lethal and only become so after many mutations accumulate in the virus
(d) Very many virus are produced, most of which are killed by the immune system, and many T4 helpers cells are killed most of which are replaced by the immune system
(e) The amount of virus in the blood increases steadily.
19. When an HIV/AIDS patient has white, membrane-like patches in his or her mouth, caused by an infection with a yeast called Candida, he or she is suffering from a condition known by the common name of
(a) Oral hairy leukoplakia
(b) Thrush
(c) Shingles
(d) Mono
(e) The clap
20. The Secretary of Health and Human Services during the Reagan administration who continually claimed that the scientists had all the money they needed was
(a) Diane Feinstein
(b) Mathilde Krim
(c) Tommy Thompson
(d) Margaret Heckler
(e) Bill Kraus
21. In And the Band Played On, the person who was infected with HIV as a result of a blood transfusion during hip surgery was
(a) Frances Borchelt
(b) Donna Mildvan
(c) Kico Govantes
(d) Gary Walsh
(e) Lu Chaikin
22. Don Francis did most of his work on HIV/AIDS while working for the
(a) National Cancer Institute
(b) Pasteur Institute
(c) Centers for Disease Control
(d) Gay Men’s Health Crisis
(e) San Francisco Department of Public Health
23. A South African man was recently sentenced to life in prison for raping a 9-month-old girl. He is thought to have done so because he believed
(a) That the infant’s mother had given him HIV
(b) That the infant’s family had bewitched him
(c) That the infant’s family would not pay a ransom after he had kidnapped the infant
(d) That sex with a virgin would cure his HIV
(e) That the rape of a black child by a white man would not be prosecuted in South Africa
24. The current “triple drug” therapy for HIV/AIDS is NOT effective at all for
(a) About 1% of patients
(b) About 30% of patients
(c) About 50% of patients
(d) About 90% of patients
25. Proper use of a latex condom reduces transmission of HIV during vaginal intercourse from an HIV positive male to an HIV negative female by about
(a) 2%
(b) 15%
(c) 65%
(d) 85%
(e) 98%
26. The risk of HIV transmission from an HIV positive female to a circumcised male is about
(a) 10-20 times less than to an uncircumcised male
(b) 2-3 times less than to an uncircumcised male (note: I originally mis-“bolded”
the wrong answer to this question! Sorry!)
(c) the same as to an uncircumcised male
(d) 2-3 times greater than to an uncircumcised male
(e) 10-20 times greater than to an uncircumcised male
27. When Rock Hudson, the movie star, was diagnosed with AIDS, where did he go for treatment?
(a) New York
(b) San Francisco
(c) Los Angeles
(d) France
(e) Mexico
28. By the time President Ronald Reagan delivered his first speech mentioning AIDS, the number of Americans who had died of AIDS was in the
(a) Hundreds
(b) Thousands
(c) Tens of thousands
(d) Hundreds of thousands
(e) Millions