1. As far as the Tuskegee Study was concerned, during the 1950’s, secrecy
a) was being maintained by a tacit agreement between local physicians, the US Public Health Service, and the national press
b) was enforced by the FBI and other federal police agencies
c) was justified by the War Powers Act, even though that act had expired at the end of the War in 1946
d) was necessary to protect the reputation of the Tuskegee Institute
e) was not an issue and the study was published openly in the scientific journals
2. The widespread use of penicillin after 1946 was followed by
a) a 10-year decline in the frequency of new syphilis cases followed by a 5 -year rise
b) a 10-year increase in the frequency of new syphilis cases followed by a 5-year decline
c) a continuous (but slow) decline in the frequency of new syphilis cases that has continued until today
d) a continuous (but slow) increase in the frequency of new syphilis cases that has continued until today
e) the appearance of penicillin resistant variants of the organism that causes syphilis
3. The organism that causes Syphilis is a member of the genus
a) Borelia
b) Salmonella
c) Vibrio
d) Treponema
e) Mycobacterium
4. Some scholars believe that syphilis may actually be a modified form of another disease. That disease is
a) Yaws
b) Gonorrhea
c) Tuberculosis
d) Leprosy
e) Chlamydia
5. Which of these would be the LEAST effective in treating syphilis?
a) Quinine
b) Mercury
c) Arsenicals like Salvarsan
d) Penicillin
6. The Wassermann Test is based on a procedure known as
a) PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction)
b) Southern Blot
c) Complement Fixation
d) Contact Tracing
e) Viral Load
7. “Dr. Erlich’s Magic Bullet,” the first successful specific treatment for an infectious disease was based on a form of
a) mercury
b) arsenic
c) bismuth
d) penicillin
e) streptomycin
8. The term “latent syphilis” almost always refers to
a) primary syphilis
b) secondary syphilis
c) tertiary syphilis
d) congenital syphilis
e) a different disease that mimics syphilis and could not be distinguished from it until the development of the Wassermann Test
9. The “Social Hygiene” movement of the 1920′ and 1930’s was concerned with
a) preserving the “racial purity” of white middle-class America
b) sanitation and the provision of clean water to cities
c) elimination of sexually transmitted diseases
d) cleaning and disinfection of public facilities such as toilets and drinking fountains
e) legislation to allow isolation and quarantine (by force, if necessary) of persons carrying infectious diseases
10. The post-coital prophylactic treatment used by the American Army in World War I Europe did NOT involve
a) washing with soap and water
b) painting the genitalia with bichloride of mercury
c) injection of a gel of protargol (a silver-containing compound) into the urethra
d) intravenous injection of arsenic-containing compounds
11. The project that became the Tuskegee Study began as a demonstration project of treatment of syphilis and changed into a study of untreated syphilis because
a) Money for the original project ran out
b) There was worry that the birth rate of African Americans in the rural South would outstrip that of the white population
c) Dr. Raymond Vonderlehr needed to know what the real symptoms of syphilis were
d) There was no effective treatment for syphilis in 1925
e) New federal laws had made it illegal to carry out such a study using prisoners in the federal prison system, where the study actually began
12. Smallpox is caused by
a) a Spirochete
b) a Mite (microscopic spiderlike insect)
c) a Worm
d) a Virus
e) Excessively promiscuous behavior
13. The first magazine with a national circulation to publish detailed stories about syphilis openly was
a) Reader’s Digest
b) Ladies’ Home Journal
c) Time Magazine
d) The New Yorker
e) Harper’s
14. The term “Columbian Exchange” generally refers to
a) the high correlation between increasing cocaine usage and HIV infection
b) the transport of slaves from the Old World to the New World and the transport of gold from the New World to the Old World
c) US support for Panama’s independence from Colombia in exchange for the right to build the Panama Canal
d) The transport of plants, animals and diseases native to the Old World to the New World and of those native to the New World to the Old World
e) The hostages left by Columbus with the natives on Santo Domingo when he took several of the native nobility back to Europe on his third voyage
15. The Tuskegee Study took place in Macon County in the state of
a) Georgia
b) Mississippi
c) Louisiana
d) Tennessee
e) Alabama
16. Primary syphilis is most often characterized by
a) a mild rash over large parts of the body, especially the torso and face
b) a progressive decay of major organ systems like the liver and the brain
c) severe fever and sometimes dementia (madness)
d) a single relatively painless ulcer
e) sterility
17. The Tuskegee Study was invalid from the start on scientific grounds because
a) it involved only African Americans
b) it involved only men
c) it did not take socio-economic factors into account
d) it did not set up a control group
e) the participants has already received some treatment
18. In 1500, syphilis in Europe
a) was much the same as that described by Hippocrates 2 ,000 years earlier
b) was much more virulent and killed more rapidly than syphilis in 1900
c) was much less virulent than syphilis in 1900 and was rarely fatal
d) caused the deaths of the kings of England, Spain, and Sweden within three months of each other, leading to a destabilization of the balance of power
e) was unknown
19. Both Syphilis and Lyme Disease are caused by
a) Spirochetes
b) Mites (microscopic spiderlike insects)
c) Worms
d) Viruses
e) Excessively promiscuous sexual behavior
20. Which of the following names would you LEAST associate with syphilis?
a) Prince Morrow
b) Thomas Parran
c) August von Wassermann
d) Paul Erlich
e) Robert Koch
21. After World War I, the films, books, and pamphlets that described the effective prophylactic measures that could be taken to prevent contracting syphilis during sexual intercourse
a) were welcomed and circulated widely until a new moral attitude arose during World War II
b) were not available in society at large and were used only in the high schools as teaching aids
c) were made obsolete by the widespread use of the new broadcast medium, radio, to spread the message
d) were banned as too obscene for public view.
22. Nurse Rivers, the liaison between the officials of the Tuskegee study and the men under study was recruited through her previous employer,
a) The Tuskegee Institute
b) The US Public Health Service
c) The Centers for Disease Control
d) The American Social Hygiene Association
e) The NAACP
23. The most common cause of “single birth sterility” in the 1920’s was
a) Syphilis
b) Gonorrhea
c) An early form of birth control pills
d) Lyme Disease
e) Failure to apply silver nitrate to the newborn after birth
24. “Complement” is a normal component of human blood. When complement is activated, its role is
a) as a normal part of cell membranes
b) to bind to antigens
c) to distinguish between “self” and “foreign” for the immune system
d) to punch holes in cell membranes
e) to raise body temperature (cause fever)
25. The euphemism for syphilis used by the officials in the Tuskegee Study when dealing with the men was
a) The Trembles
b) Bad Blood
c) The Wasting
d) Parlor Fever
e) Shuffling Fever