1. The “central dogma” of molecular biology states that
(a) DNA makes RNA and RNA makes protein
(b) DNA makes protein and protein makes RNA
(c) RNA makes DNA and DNA makes protein
(d) RNA makes protein and protein makes DNA
(e) Protein makes RNA and RNA makes DNA

2. The island where BSE (“Mad Cow Disease”) was first reported was
(a) Australia
(b) New Zealand
(c) New Guinea
(d) Iceland
(e) Great Britain

3. The causative agent of deadly influenza pandemic of 1918 was
(a) Klebsiella pneumoniae
(b) Streptococcus pneumoniae
(c) A spore-forming bacterium
(d) Haemophilus influenzae
(e) Influenza virus

4. Some bacteria can form structures called “spores.” Spores are designed to allow the bacteria to
(a) attach to cells in the lining of the lung
(b) alter the salt/water balance in cells
(c) evade the immune system by hiding inside phagocytes
(d) accumulate iron
(e) survive harsh environmental conditions

5. The number of people in the US who die of influenza in a typical (non-epidemic) year is
(a) Fewer than 50
(b) About 500
(c) About 20,000
(d) About 250,000-300,000
(e) Almost one million

6. The reason that tuberculosis can be latent in an individual for many years is that
(a) It is in a balance with the immune systems that barely controls it
(b) It is resistant to many common antibiotics
(c) Even boiling in acid does not remove the pathogenicity associated with it
(d) It hides out inside nerve cells and reactivates under conditions of stress
(e) Its entry into the human body is by breathing aerosols

7. Some bacteria can form structures called “capsules.” Capsules are designed to allow the bacteria to
(a) avoid being “swallowed” by phagocytes
(b) alter the salt/water balance in cells
(c) accumulate iron
(d) carry out the process of nitrogen fixation
(e) be more easily digested

8. Massive diarrhea would be a likely symptom of
(a) anthrax
(b) cholera
(c) influenza
(d) tuberculosis
(e) typhoid fever

9. John Snow was able to show that
(a) cholera is caused by a comma-shaped bacterium
(b) cholera is more dangerous when you get it by inhalation than by contact with skin
(c) cholera is spread through contaminated water
(d) cholera kills by dehydrating the victim
(e) filtration removes the causative agent of cholera

10. The first documented human to human transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease occurred as a result of
(a) Intentional inoculation of volunteers
(b) Needles shared by injection drug users
(c) Blood transfusions
(d) Unusual sexual practices
(e) Surgical procedures

11. Which of these is the correct order for increasing population size?
(a) epidemic-outbreak-pandemic
(b) epidemic-pandemic-outbreak
(c) pandemic-epidemic-outbreak
(d) outbreak-epidemic-pandemic
(e) outbreak-pandemic-epidemic

12. Which of these is one of “Koch’s Postulates?”
(a) All bacteria cause disease under some condition
(b) Most bacteria are harmless
(c) The number of bacteria increases exponentially
(d) The germ that causes a disease must be present in all diseased individuals
(e) The first line of defense against pathogenic bacteria is the skin

13. It was not until the late nineteenth century that
(a) A cure for tuberculosis was discovered
(b) The many forms of tuberculosis were seen as a single disease
(c) The first European deaths from the tuberculosis pandemic were observed
(d) Tuberculosis first reached the New World
(e) The first antibiotic resistant strains of tuberculosis were detected

14. Which of the following killed the largest number of persons worldwide in a 12-month period?
(a) The bubonic plague (black death) of the mid fourteenth century
(b) The influenza pandemic in early twentieth century
(c) The introduction of tuberculosis into sub-Saharan Africa in the mid nineteenth century
(d) The HIV/AIDS pandemic of the late twentieth century
(e) The “swine flu” of 1976

15. The reason that anthrax can kill people even though they are receiving antibiotics is that
(a) most strains of B. anthracis are resistant to antibiotics
(b) B. anthracis cells can convert antibiotics to toxic compounds
(c) B. anthracis cells kill by clogging small blood vessels and dead cells do this as well as live ones
(d) B. anthracis produces toxins which are just proteins, not living cells, and the toxins kill
(e) edema factor causes fluid accumulation

16. The key to identifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis is that
(a) It has a waxy coat that makes it acid-fast
(b) It is comma-shaped
(c) It can form highly resistant structures called “spores”
(d) It can pass through filters that trap most other bacteria
(e) It is not killed by irradiation with ultraviolet light

17. Stanley Prusiner chose to give a name to the causative agent of Scrapie and kuru. He called it a prion. That name implied that the agent contained
(a) DNA, RNA, and protein
(b) Protein and DNA but no RNA
(c) Protein but no DNA or RNA
(d) DNA but no protein or RNA
(e) DNA and RNA but no protein

18. BCG (Bacille Calmette and Guerin) is thought by many to be
(a) The causative agent of tuberculosis
(b) An infection that sensitizes its victims to later infection with tuberculosis
(c) An effective diagnostic test that shows prior exposure to tuberculosis
(d) The strain of tuberculosis that is most deadly, especially in Africa and southeast Asia
(e) An effective vaccine against tuberculosis

19. The use of purified human growth hormone (hGH) to treat children led to deaths from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). This happened because
(a) a side effect of hGH is that it weakens the immune system
(b) hGH was made from brain tissues pooled from thousands of humans, some of whom had CJD
(c) hGH increases the rate at which the agent that causes CJD reproduces itself
(d) hGH was grown in cells extracted from sheep, some of which were later found to be infected with scrapie
(e) there was a failure in the sterilization treatment in at least two different batches

20. “Antigenic Shift” and “Antigenic Drift” are terms you associate with
(a) Anthrax
(b) Cholera
(c) Tuberculosis
(d) Influenza
(e) Scrapie/kuru/BSE

21. Early in her work on Scrapie/kuru, Patricia Merz observed structures in her electron microscope pictures that she termed SAF, which stood for
(a) Spongiform, Amyloid, and Fibrous
(b) Scrapie Associated Fibrils
(c) Straight And Filamentous
(d) Scrapie, ALS, and Fisher’s Disease
(e) Sticky, Attenuated, and Fungus-like

22. According to the miasmatic theory of cholera causation espoused by von Pettenkofer and his students, which of these was NOT an essential element for cholera to emerge?
(a) A specific infectious element
(b) Porous soil with decaying matter in it
(c) A toxic substance produced by the interaction of the infectious element and the decaying matter in the soil
(d) A source of contaminated water that was neither too cold nor too warm