1. Currently, the annual number of deaths from Tuberculosis in the world is
a) between 10 and 100 thousand
b) between 100 thousand and 1 million
c) between 1 million and 10 million
d) between 10 million and 100 million
e) between 100 million and 1 billion

2. Bubonic Plague differs from Pneumonic Plague in that
a) Bubonic Plague has high mortality but Pneumonic is relatively harmless
b) Bubonic Plague is caused by a bacterium but Pneumonic Plague is caused by a virus
c) Bubonic Plague is transmitted by the bite of a flea but Pneumonic Plague is transmitted by aerosols
d) Bubonic Plague is transmitted by rats but Pneumonic Plague is transmitted by fleas
e) Pneumonic Plague (the “Plague of Justinian”) died out in Europe in about the year 760 and was replaced by a more virulent form of Bubonic Plague (the “black death”) in 1347.

3. The effect of the first few waves of the Black Death (1347 to 1500) on European population was
a) an overall reduction in population of about 10%
b) an overall reduction in population of about 50%
c) an overall reduction in population of about 90-95%
d) a reduction of about 70% in the South of Europe but only about 5-8% in the North
e) a reduction of about 70% in the North of Europe (especially England) but only about 5-8% in the South.

4. The man who first identified the Tuberculosis bacillus was
a) Robert Koch
b) Louis Pasteur
c) George Soper
d) John Snow
e) Alexander Yersin

5. Tuberculosis probably originated as a recognizable human disease
a) in the twentieth century
b) as a result of the industrial revolution
c) in the “New World” and was introduced into Europe as part of the “Colombian Exchange” in the 1490’s
d) in prehistoric times

6. The most recent Cholera pandemic
a) ended in 1830
b) ended in 1854
c) ended in 1892
d) ended in 1943 (with the introduction of penicillin)
e) is still going on

7. The genes of Influenza viruses reside on or in
a) eight pieces of RNA
b) eight pieces of DNA
c) one single piece of DNA
d) a nucleus with highly condensed chromatin
e) two proteins located on the outer surface of the virus

8. The most lethal pandemic of Influenza ever occurred
a) about the same time as the American Civil War
b) at the end of the Franco-Prussian War
c) just before the “Boxer Rebellion” in China
d) at the end of World War I
e) at the end of World War II

9. During the great Influenza pandemic, there were an estimated 1.8 billion human beings in the world. Of these, the total number estimated to be infected was
a) about 1 billion of whom nearly 400 million died
b) about 1 billion of whom 20-40 million died
c) about 100 million of whom 2-4 million dies
d) about 100 million of whom nearly a million died

10. In the US, the number of new cases of Tuberculosis per year
a) was rising slowly but steadily until the mid 1980’s and then leveled off
b) was rising slowly but steadily until the mid 1980’s and then began falling dramatically
c) was falling slowly but steadily until the mid 1980’s and then began to rise
d) has fallen slowly but steadily since the introduction of modern antibiotics

11. Bubonic Plague is currently
a) decimating the population of Bangladesh
b) raging uncontrolled in sub-Saharan Africa
c) wiped out almost completely, with only a small pocket of infected rodents in the Himalayan foothills
d) endemic (continuously present) in the wild rodents of Western US
e) being used to control the rabbit population in Australia

12. The main route for transmission of Tuberculosis is
a) water that we drink
b) fecal-oral contamination
c) the bites of fleas and some lice
d) droplet in the air
e) sexual contact

13. The first person to see the Cholera bacillus was
a) John Snow
b) Louis Pasteur
c) Alexander Yersin
d) Robert Koch
e) Johannes Petenkofer

14. The Bacille Calmette-Guerin (Bacillus of Calmette and Guerin or BCG) is
a) the causative agent of most cases of Tuberculosis
b) the bacterium injected into the skin when doing a tuberculin skin test
c) a widely used anti-Tuberculosis vaccine
d) the most virulent strain of the Tuberculosis agent ever identified

15. People who drank water from the Broad Street Pump in August and September 1854
a) were the only ones who got Cholera in those months
b) were 10-20 times less likely to get Cholera than those who drank water from the Water Company pipes
c) were even less likely to get Cholera than other residents of Altona and more than 20 times less likely than those who drank from the New Street pump in Hamburg
d) were found to be immune to Cholera

16. The causative agent of Cholera is a bacterium in the genus
a) Vibrio
b) Mycobacterium
c) Yersinia
d) Salmonella
e) Treponema

17. Influenza viruses can change suddenly into a form that is completely unrecognized by our immune system. This sort of change us usually called
a) antigenic drift
b) antigenic shift
c) antigenic variation
d) pandemic
e) mutation that resists error correction

18. The initial infections that led to the Cholera outbreak in Hamburg in 1892 probably arrived
a) by ship from New York City
b) by river barge from Hanseatic traders
c) by train from the Ukraine
d) by naval warships returning from the Crimea
e) in unwashed vegetables from the neighboring town of Altona

19. Bubonic Plague is so named after buboes. What are buboes?
a) black-appearing swellings of lymph nodes
b) disfiguring pustules that form on the body, especially the face and trunk, and leave scars for life on the survivors of the infection
c) the chants of Italian gravediggers “Bubbonni mortandi” or “Bring out your dead”
d) a nickname for quack (fake) physicians

20. Bubonic Plague is caused by a bacterium of the genus
a) Vibrio
b) Yersinia
c) Salmonella
d) Mycobacterium
e) Treponema

21. John Keats, Fryderyk Chopin, and most of the Brontë family dies of
a) Bubonic Plague
b) Syphilis
c) Cholera
d) Tuberculosis
e) Influenza

22. The Influenza of the great pandemic was unique because
a) it killed the very young (under 1 year of age)
b) it killed the 20-40 year olds
c) it killed the very old (65 and older)
d) it killed more women than men

23. In underdeveloped regions of the world, antibiotics are not available and hence not used in the treatment of Cholera. The result of this absence of antibiotics is
a) a mortality greater than 40% and sometimes approaching 90%
b) a doubling in the time needed for recovery from 2-3 days to 4-6 days
c) a stronger and longer-lasting immune response against the Cholera bacillus
d) an increased prevalence of Tuberculosis following the weakness brought on by Cholera
e) minimal because antibiotics are ineffective against the Cholera bacillus

24. In most cases of death resulting from Influenza, death was actually caused by
a) penetration of the virus into the lungs
b) penetration of the viruses into the internal organs
c) unrestricted growth of the virus in the bloodstream
d) secondary bacterial infections that occur after the flu has weakened the person
e) the appearance of drug-resistant forms of the virus

25. The main cause of death for Cholera patients is
a) growth of bacteria in the bloodstream and tissues
b) accumulation of bacteria in the lymph nodes
c) dehydration
d) high fever
e) suffocation from fluid in the lungs