21. Principles of Disease

What was the difference in the effects of variola major and variola minor?

What observation led scientists to understand the relationship between shingles and chickenpox?

Most of the world’s population in less developed and developing countries have been infected with EBV human herpesvirus 4 by age one and show no ill effects, even where medical care is poor. In contrast, individuals in industrialized countries are ordinarily infected after puberty, and these older patients tend to have more severe reactions to infection despite better overall health and access to medical care. Explain this apparent paradox.

Koplik’s spots are oral lesions associated with __________.

a. mumps

b. measles

c. flu

d. colds

A horror movie portrays victims of biological warfare with uncontrolled bleeding from the eyes, mouth, nose, ears, and anus. What actual virus causes these symptoms?

a. Ebola virus

b. bunyavirus

c. hantavirus

d. human immunodeficiency virus

_____A single virion is sufficient to cause a cold.

_____All infections of polio are crippling.

_____Because the oral polio vaccine contains live attenuated viruses, mutations of these viruses can cause polio.

Young Luis has skin lesions. His mother knows from microbiology class that five childhood diseases can produce spots. Name those five diseases and the viruses that cause each. List some questions to ask to determine which of these viruses Luis has.

Of the following characteristics, which would contribute most to making a microorganism an effective biological warfare agent?

a. is readily available in the environment

b. can be spread by contact after original dissemination

c. cannot be treated well outside a hospital

d. is easily identified by symptoms

The most frequent portal of entry for pathogens is ___________ .

a. the respiratory tract

b. the skin

c. the conjunctiva

d. a cut or wound

The process by which microorganisms attach themselves to cells is __________ .

a. infection

b. contamination

c. disease

d. adhesion

Which of the following are most likely to cause disease?

a. opportunistic pathogens in a weakened host

b. pathogens lacking the enzyme kinase

c. pathogens lacking the enzyme collagenase

d. highly virulent organisms

When pathogenic bacterial cells lose the ability to make adhesins, they typically                  .

a. become avirulent

b. produce endotoxin

c. absorb endotoxin

d. increase in virulence

What does the term HAI (nosocomial infection) have to do with patient care?