Microbiology Exam For Students! Trivia Questions
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As we continue to polish up our skills when it comes to microbiology in preparation for the main exam, I have prepared a set of prep questions to help you meet the marks that you desire in the finals. Think that you can handle it? Take this first quiz and get to show us what you recall from class as we remind you of others. Best of luck!
- 1.You get the following antibody titers against West Nile Virus in three patients. Which patient probably has a current infection? Patient A: 128 IgG, 0 IgM. Patient B: 128 IgG, 256 IgM. Patient C: 0 IgG, 0 IgM.
- A.
Patient A
- B.
Patient C
- C.
Patients A and C
- D.
Patient B
- 2.Which if the following is an example of contact transmission?
- A.
Several people become infected with Listeria after consuming contaminated ice cream
- B.
Tuberculosis is spread from one person to another after travelling through the air for several meters
- C.
Vacationers develop shigellosis, caused by the intestinal pathogen Shigella sp., after drinking contaminated water
- D.
A person develops plague from a flea bite
- E.
A person drinks from a cup used by another individual
- 3.A vaccine consisting of an inactivated diphtheria toxin is called a(n):
- A.
Subunit vaccine
- B.
Conjugated vaccine
- C.
Toxoid
- D.
Attenuated whole agent vaccine
- 4.Assume you mix red blood cells, antibodies against red blood cells, and complement in a test tube. What would you expect to see?
- A.
Opsonization
- B.
Phagocytosis
- C.
Lysis of the red blood cells
- D.
Agglutination of the red blood cells
- 5.Which of the following effects is most likely to occur if a pathogen enters the body by a portal of entry other than the preferred one?
- A.
A more severe disease will result
- B.
Pathogens cannot enter by alternate routes
- C.
A milder disease will result
- D.
A different disease of the same severity will result
- 6.A fungus that produces sporangiospores and zygospores and has hyphae without cross-walls would be classified in the category:
- A.
Zygomycota
- B.
Deuteromycota
- C.
Anamorph
- D.
Basidiomycota
- E.
Ascomycota
- 7.Antibodies can have all of the following effects on target cells except what?
- A.
Agglutination
- B.
Neutralization
- C.
Opsonization
- D.
Lysis
- 8.Histamine causes all of the following reactions. Which occurs first?
- A.
Pain
- B.
Redness
- C.
Swelling
- D.
Vasodilation
- 9.Assume that your job is to produce antibodies against the deadly puff adder (snake) venom. How would you do this?
- A.
None of the above
- B.
Find someone who has been bitten
- C.
Vaccinate a cow
- D.
Get antibodies from a puff adder
- 10.Rickettsias are different from most other bacteria because they:
- A.
Require other bacteria to help them
- B.
Are intracellular parasites
- C.
Are gram-negative
- D.
Lack cell walls
- 11.Which of the following is the third stage of a disease?
- A.
Incubation period
- B.
Period of decline
- C.
Period of illness
- D.
Prodromal period
- E.
Period of convalescence
- 12.During the bacteriophage lysogenic cycle:
- A.
The burst time is shortened
- B.
The host cell lyses, releasing new virions
- C.
Phage DNA is inserted into the host chromosome
- D.
New phage DNA is synthesized
- E.
No attachment occurs
- 13.The first step in biosynthesis of rhabdoviruses, - strand RNA viruses, is production of:
- A.
Proteins from an mRNA template
- B.
DNA from an RNA template
- C.
MRNA from a DNA template
- D.
MRNA from an RNA template
- 14.Your lab partner slipped on his way to class. He scraped his arm without drawing blood. You make a smear of the fluid from his scrape and observe large nucleated cells. These cells are most likely:
- A.
Neutrophils
- B.
Erythrocytes
- C.
Lymphocytes
- D.
Bacteria
- 15.Which of the following virulence factors does not contribute to the spread of a disease in the body?
- A.
Fibrinolysin
- B.
Hemolysin
- C.
Hyaluronidase
- D.
Collagenase
- 16.Which is not correctly matched?
- A.
Pinworm : complete digestive system
- B.
Roundworm : complete digestive system
- C.
Tapeworm : no digestive system
- D.
Hookworm : incomplete digestive system
- E.
Fluke : incomplete digestive system
- 17.Streptomyces are bacteria and not fungi because Streptomyces:
- A.
Have prokaryotic cells
- B.
Form filaments
- C.
Produce conidiospores
- D.
Can cause disease
- 18.Viruses that use RNA as a template for transcribing DNA include:
- A.
Togaviridae
- B.
Herpesviridae
- C.
Picornaviridae
- D.
Retroviridae
- E.
Rhabdoviridae
- 19.Symptoms of helminthic diseases are usually due to:
- A.
Toxins
- B.
The helminth eating its host
- C.
The parasite eating the host's food
- D.
The presence of the parasite
- 20.Which of the following contributes to the difficulty in establishing the aetiology of cancer?
- A.
Most viral particles can infect cells without inducing cancer
- B.
Cancer may not develop until long after infection
- C.
Cancers do not seem to be contagious
- D.
Viruses are difficult to observe
- E.
All of the above.
- 21.Virulence refers to:
- A.
The numer of people in a population who are infected by a certain pathogen
- B.
The degree or intensity of pathogenicity
- C.
A pathogen that has lost its ability to produce disease
- D.
Pathogens that only infect people with a repressed immune system
- E.
Pathogens that are spread through the soil
- 22.An encapsulated bacterium can be virulent because the capsule
- A.
Resists phagocytosis
- B.
Is an endotoxin
- C.
Destroys host tissues
- D.
Interferes with physiological processes
- E.
Has no effect; since many pathogens do not have capsules, capsules do not contribute to virulence.
- 23.The dose of microbes required to produce a measurable infection in half of the animals tested is referred to by the abbreviated term ______________.
- A.
ID50
- 24._______________ are substances produced by bacteria that can destroy neutrophils and macrophages.
- A.
Leukocidins
- 25.__________________ are bacterial enzymes that lyse erythrocytes.
- A.
Haemolysins
- 26.Fibrinogen can be converted to fibrin by the bacterial enzyme _________________.
- A.
Coagulase
- 27.___________________ are toxins that are modified to retain their ability to induce antibody formation but lose their toxicity.
- A.
Toxoids
- 28.Shock that results from a gram-negative bacterial infection is caused by substances released from host _____________________.
- A.
Macrophages
- 29.Lysogenic bacterial cells may express prophage DNA, causing them to take on different characteristics in a process referred to as _________________ ____________________.
- A.
Lysogenic conversion
- 30.Microbes are more likely to gain entry to the body through the skin than the mucous membranes
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 31.Although many pathogens cause disease following entry into the body as a result of food and water consumption, many such microbes are killed as a result of the chemicals involved in the digestive process.
- A.
True
- B.
False
- 32.Another name for an endotoxin is:
- A.
Diphtheria toxin
- B.
LPS of lipopolysaccharide
- C.
Tetanus toxin
- D.
Cholera toxin
- E.
Capsule
- 33.What part of the LPS molecule exerts the toxic effect?
- A.
Lipid A
- 34.Which of the following does NOT describe one of Koch's Postulates?
- A.
Grow the agent in pure culture
- B.
Isolate the same agent from a new victim
- C.
Isolate the suspected agent from a disease victim
- D.
Characterise the Gram staining characteristic of the isolated agent
- E.
Infect a health host with the agent and produce the same disease
- 35.AIDS can best be classed as a/an
- A.
Pandemic
- B.
Epidemic
- C.
Endemic
- D.
Opportunistic infection
- E.
Nosocomial infection
- 36.The normal flora of a human is NOT known to do which of the following?
- A.
Produce diseases under certain conditions
- B.
Protects us against many pathogens
- C.
Produces anti-carcinogenic chemicals
- D.
All of the above (A, B, & C)
- E.
Only B & C
- 37.A NOSOCOMIAL infection is:
- A.
An infection that one catches from an animal
- B.
An infections that one gets from drinking contaminated water
- C.
An infection that one gets from an insect bite; i.e., Lyme disease from the tick
- D.
An infection that a hospital patient picks up at the hospital from the personnel or materials used in the hospital
- E.
Antibiotic resistant bacteria found in a hospital setting due to the heavy use of antibiotics
- 38.In a healthy human, resident microorganisms would most likely be found in the:
- A.
Lower urethra
- B.
Bone
- C.
Muscle
- D.
Lower respiratory tract
- E.
Blood
- 39.In the human intestinal tract, E.coli produces vitamins beneficial to the host and can inhibit pathogen growth. In turn, the bacterium is supplied with nutrients and an environment for growth. This symbiotic relationship between E.coli and its host is an example of:
- A.
Mutualism
- B.
Commensalism
- C.
Parasitism
- D.
Antagonism
- E.
None of the above
- 40.An infection transmitted by a hypodermic needle is transmitted by:
- A.
A vector
- B.
Direct contact
- C.
Common vehicle transmission
- D.
Droplet tranmission
- E.
Indirect contact
- 41.Infections in which the pathogen is distributed throughout the body are referred to as "generalised infections" or:
- A.
Local infections
- B.
Focal infections
- C.
Emerging infections
- D.
Systemic infections
- E.
Zoonoses
- 42.Which of the following is an example of contact transmission?
- A.
A person develops plague from a flea bite
- B.
A person drinks from a cup used by another individual
- C.
Vacationers develop shigellosis, caused by the intestinal pathogen Shigella sp., after drinking contaminated water
- D.
Tuberculosis is spread from one person to another after travelling through the air for several metres
- E.
Several people become infected with Listeria after consuming contaminated ice cream
- 43.Which of the following is true of diseases transmitted by vectors?
- A.
These diseases are transmitted by arthropods
- B.
In biological transmission, vectors can spread pathogens by defecating
- C.
In biological transmission, pathogens multiply in the vector, which can transmit the pathogens by injecting saliva directly into the host
- D.
In biological transmission, vectors can spread pathogens by vomiting
- E.
All of the above
- 44.Which of the following is NOT a step or STAGE in the disease process
- A.
Incubation period
- B.
Establishment in host
- C.
Infection
- D.
Production of a septicaemia
- E.
Development of clinical symptoms
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