Practice Quiz for Epidemiology

No. of Questions= 11 INSTRUCTIONS: To answer a question, click the button in front of your choice. A response will appear in the window below the question to let you know if you are correct. Be sure to read the feedback. It is designed to help you learn the material. You can also learn by reading the hints and feedback for incorrect answers.

1.

Epidemiologists are interested in learning about ____________________ . a) b) c) d) the causes of diseases and how to cure or control them the frequency and geographic distribution of diseases the causal relationships between diseases all of the above
## CORRECT --> Epidemiology is the field of medical science that is focused on learning about how, where, and why diseases develop and how best to control their spread.

2.

Diseases that are always present in a community, usually at a low, more or less constant, frequency are classified as having an ____________ pattern. a) b) c) epidemic endemic pandemic
## CORRECT --> Diseases that have an endemic pattern may or may not be contagious, but they are always present in a community. Malaria, arthritis, tooth decay, and high blood pressure are examples of endemic diseases in some societies.

3.

Which of the following statements is true concerning epidemic diseases? a) They are usually not very contagious.

b) c)

At the end of an epidemic, a disease spreads at an increasing rate and then abruptly disappears. They usually appear and disappear seasonally.
## CORRECT --> The seasonality of epidemics is mostly a result of changing human interaction patterns and changes in the environment. For instance, we are more likely to get colds in winter because we are more often indoors in close physical proximity to others.

4.

An epidemic that becomes unusually widespread and even global in its reach is referred to as a _________________ . a) b) c) pandemic hyperendemic Spanish flu
## CORRECT --> If conditions are optimal for the spread of contagion and if few people have an immunity to a disease, there can be a pandemic. This happened in 1918 when a new strain of the influenza virus (the Spanish flu), infected 1/5 of all people in the world.

5.

A disease vector is a(n) ____________________ . a) b) c) organism that transmits a disease symptom of a disease environmental condition associated with a disease
## CORRECT --> Disease vectors are intermediate hosts or organisms that spread a disease. Mosquitoes, fleas, lice, ticks, flies, and snails are vectors for specific diseases that infect humans. They carry the microorganisms that cause diseases such as the plague.

6.

Which of the following things cause malaria? a) b) c) mosquitoes plasmodia (singular plasmodium) red blood cells
## CORRECT --> Plasmodia are single celled organisms that are parasites on red blood cells. They ultimately cause the severe anemia and very high fever that are malaria symptoms. They are transmitted from host to host unintentionally via blood sucking mosquitoes.

7.

About what fraction of the people in the world have

chronic diseases that are vector-borne? a) b) c) 1/4 1/2 3/4

## CORRECT --> Close to half of the people in the world today have serious vector-borne diseases. Tropical and subtropical regions are the most effected. In third world nations, vector-borne diseases cause high levels of physical disability and low life expectancies.

8.

Most of the major health problems in the poorer nations are due to ____________________ . a) b) c) parasitic worms and microorganisms psychological tension resulting from work air pollution
## CORRECT --> Along with malnutrition, parasitic diseases are still the major source of illness in third world nations. They were also the major cause of disease in developed nations before the 20th century.

9.

The prime cause of illness resulting in death in the poor countries of the tropical and subtropical regions today is __________________ . a) b) c) lyme disease plague malaria
## CORRECT --> There are close to 100,000,000 new cases of malaria reported annually around the world. It causes approximately 1,500,000 deaths every year and most of them are children. The majority of fatal malarial cases are in poor tropical and subtropical regions.

that are due mostly to environmental changes, 10. Diseases increased population densities, and pollution that result from modernization in third world nations are referred to as: a) b) c) diseases of poverty diseases of development schistosomiasis

## CORRECT --> Poor sanitation in burgeoning urban centers, industrial pollution, and river damming have resulted in an increase in the frequency of some diseases (e.g., cholera, dysentery, lung cancer, and schistosomiasis). These are diseases of development.

11. Which of the following statements is true?

a) b) c) Modern medicine has at times been responsible for causing health problems. Malnutrition has been essentially eliminated in the United States. Persistent undernourishment among children rarely results in serious health problems.
## CORRECT --> Medications sometimes have unexpected side effects. For instance, the drug thalidomide given to many pregnant women in the 1950`s caused serious birth defects in their children, especially extremely small appendages that were essentially nonfunctional.