Medical Microbiology Study Guide Questions

Course Introduction

Medical Microbiology explores the biology of microorganisms bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites that cause diseases in humans. The course covers the mechanisms by which these pathogens invade and damage the body, the host immune responses, and the principles of microbial pathogenesis. Students learn laboratory methods for identifying infectious agents, strategies for controlling infections, and the impact of emerging and re-emerging diseases on public health. Topics include antimicrobial therapies, resistance, and the role of medical microbiology in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of infectious diseases.

Recommended Textbook

Living in a Microbial World 1st Edition by Bruce Hofkin

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16 Chapters

208 Verified Questions

208 Flashcards

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Page 2

Chapter 1: Living in a Microbial World

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Sample Questions

Q1) Which of the following statements is true?

A) Most microorganisms have eukaryotic cells.

B) Most microorganisms have cells containing organelles.

C) Many microorganisms have cells in which the genetic material is not surrounded by a nuclear membrane.

D) Animals have prokaryotic cells.

E) Plant cells do not contain organelles.

Answer: C

Q2) Why are control groups necessary in a proper scientific experiment?

Answer: In a proper experiment, the effect of the experimental variable, if any, is compared between the experimental group and the control group. Without the control group, in which the experimental variable was not manipulated, there would be no way to evaluate the effect of the experimental variable.

Q3) Which of the following are not composed of cells?

A) Bacteria and archaea

B) Fungi and protozoa

C) Viruses and prions

Answer: C

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Chapter 2: The Chemistry of Life

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Q1) Describe the relationship between an atom's stability and its energy. How does this impact an atom's reactivity?

Answer: There is an inverse relationship between an atom's stability and its energy level. They are more likely to interact with other atoms (they are more reactive) when their energy is greater and their stability is lower.

Q2) Enzymes function by ________, which speeds up the rate of a chemical reaction.

A) increasing the stability of the reactants

B) multiplying the number of active sites on the reactants

C) lowering the energy of activation

D) increasing the energy of activation

E) keeping the pH constant

Answer: C

Q3) If an atom X has an atomic number of 18, then:

A) there are 18 protons.

B) there are 9 protons and 9 electrons.

C) there are 18 neutrons.

D) there are 9 protons and 9 neutrons.

E) it also has a mass number of 18.

Answer: A

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Page 4

Chapter 3: The Cell: Where Life Begins

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Sample Questions

Q1) Which of the following is released by dying Gram-negative bacteria, whereupon it acts as endotoxin?

A) peptidoglycan

B) O-polysaccharides

C) porin proteins

D) pentaglycine

E) lipopolysacharides

Answer: E

Q2) Which of the following extracellular structures allows some bacteria to resist phagocytosis by phagocytic cells?

A) capsule

B) fimbriae

C) sex pili

D) flagella

Answer: A

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Chapter 4: A Field Guide to the Microorganisms

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Sample Questions

Q1) The classification of living things according to their evolutionary relationships is called:

A) taxonomy.

B) phylogenetics.

C) taxonomic hierarchy.

D) the five-kingdom system of classification.

E) the three-domain system of classification.

Q2) Which of the following is true about photosynthetic bacteria?

A) They are the most primitive of all bacteria.

B) Photosynthesis appears to have evolved several separate times.

C) Photosynthetic bacteria all appear to be closely related.

D) A comparison of rRNA genes in different lineages of photosynthetic bacteria would reveal that the genes are almost identical in all lineages.

E) All photosynthetic bacteria appear to have evolved relatively recently.

Q3) Fungi that grow on dead material are called:

A) autotrophs.

B) saprophytes.

C) filamentous fungi.

D) fleshy fungi.

E) Zygomycota.

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Chapter 5: The Microbiology of History and the History of Microbiology

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Sample Questions

Q1) Which of the following diseases played the biggest part in defeating Napoleon in his attempt to conquer Russia?

A) typhus

B) typhoid

C) bubonic plague

D) malaria

E) smallpox

Q2) The principle of attenuation discovered by Pasteur had important implications for:

A) antibiotic development.

B) vaccine development.

C) aseptic surgery.

D) pure culture technique.

E) the development of variolation as a defense against smallpox.

Q3) What are Koch's Postulates? Explain how they are used to determine the cause of a particular disease.

Q4) Why is a large population of hosts more important for the maintenance of a "crowd disease" than it is for other types of diseases?

Q5) What is the danger associated with agricultural monocultures?

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Chapter 6: Microbial Genetics

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Sample Questions

Q1) The region of the DNA to which RNA polymerase binds during transcription is known as the ________.

A) promoter

B) codon

C) anticodon

D) operator

E) origin of replication

Q2) The uptake of naked DNA by some bacterial cells is called ________.

A) transduction

B) conjugation

C) an insertion

D) transformation

E) a point mutation

Q3) ________ use(s) codons to specify which amino acid should be added to the growing polypeptide chain during protein synthesis.

A) DNA

B) mRNA

C) tRNA

D) rRNA

E) operons

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Chapter 7: Metabolism and Growth

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Sample Questions

Q1) During the stationary phase of microbial growth:

A) cells are preparing to divide.

B) production of new cells exceeds cell death.

C) production of new cells is approximately equal to cell death.

D) there is no production of new cells or cell death.

E) cell death exceeds the production of new cells.

Q2) In a coupled reaction:

A) a catabolic exergonic reaction supplies the energy needed for an anabolic endergonic reaction to occur.

B) a catabolic endergonic reaction supplies the energy needed for an anabolic exergonic reaction to occur.

C) an anabolic endergonic reaction supplies the energy for a catabolic exergonic reaction to occur.

D) an anabolic exergonic reaction supplies the energy for a catabolic endergonic reaction to occur.

Q3) Describe how ATP is produced in electron transport.

Q4) Describe differences that would be seen in the growth curve of a facultative anaerobe that is grown in the presence of oxygen, and the same facultative anaerobe grown in the absence of oxygen.

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Chapter 8: Microbial Evolution: the Origin and Diversity of Life

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Sample Questions

Q1) An experiment by Stanley Miller in the 1950s demonstrated that abiotic synthesis of organic molecules could occur:

A) in a reducing environment.

B) in an oxidizing environment.

C) on the ocean floor.

D) at extremely high temperatures.

E) at extremely low temperatures.

Q2) We might expect virulence of a particular human pathogen to decrease:

A) when opportunities for transmission are limited.

B) when opportunities for transmission are abundant.

C) when animal reservoirs for the pathogen are scarce.

D) in very large human populations, such as a large city.

E) when it uses insect vectors for transmission.

Q3) Explain the rationale for the "RNA world" hypothesis.

Q4) Why is it that natural selection can never result in organisms that are perfectly adapted to their environment?

Q5) It is believed that mitochondria were acquired by primitive eukaryotic cells before chloroplasts were. What is the evidence for this?

Page 10

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Chapter 9: An Ecologists Guide to Microbiology

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Sample Questions

Q1) In aquatic environments, the ________ zone represents the part of the environment where sunlight reaches the bottom.

A) photic zone

B) littoral zone

C) profundal zone

D) benthic zone

E) pelagic zone

Q2) What exactly is a biofilm? Where are biofilms found?

Q3) Most of the bacteria that live in lakes can be classified as:

A) oligotrophs.

B) eutrophs.

C) Gram-positive.

D) Gram-negative.

E) thermophiles.

Q4) Mycorrhizal associations would most likely be found in:

A) benthic marine environments.

B) a freshwater lake.

C) a stream or river.

D) the soil environment.

E) microbial biofilms.

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Chapter 10: The Nature of Disease: a Pathogens Perspective

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Sample Questions

Q1) How does our normal flora protect us from some infections by pathogens?

Q2) For a given pathogen:

A) the ID50 will always be lower than the LD50.

B) the ID50 will always be higher than the LD50.

C) the ID50 and the LD50 will always be equal.

D) the ID50 may be lower or higher than the LD50.

Q3) Eradication of any pathogen is very unlikely unless that pathogen uses:

A) human reservoirs only.

B) animal reservoirs only.

C) environmental reservoirs only.

D) human or animal reservoirs.

E) animal or environmental reservoirs.

Q4) Streptokinase, coagulase, and hemolysins are all examples of:

A) exotoxins.

B) endotoxins.

C) tissue degrading enzymes.

D) viral cytopathic effects.

Q5) Why are symptoms in a host, such as diarrhea in the case of intestinal disease, or sneezing and coughing in the case of respiratory disease, beneficial from the perspective of some pathogens that cause these diseases?

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Chapter 11: Host Defense

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Sample Questions

Q1) During a successful secondary immune response:

A) the inductive period will be longer than it was during a primary response.

B) greatly increased levels of IgM are produced.

C) long-lived plasma cells immediately begin secreting antibody.

D) the number of pathogens should remain below the threshold of disease.

E) there will be a stronger cell-mediated response, but a less vigorous humoral response.

Q2) In what way can the fever response be used to illustrate the point that response to pathogens can both be protective and harmful?

Q3) Describe how cells of the innate immune system activate the adaptive immune system under certain circumstances.

Q4) Which antibody type is usually produced in the greatest amount during a humoral reponse?

A) IgA

B) IgD

C) IgM

D) IgE

E) IgG

Q5) How does HIV reduce immune function?

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Chapter 12: Control of Microbial Growth

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Sample Questions

Q1) How does stopping an antibiotic prescription prematurely contribute to the development of drug resistance?

Q2) Why are antibiotics often added to animal feed?

A) to reduce disease transmission among domestic animals

B) to increase the growth rate of domestic animals

C) to reduce the likelihood of drug resistance

D) All of the above are correct.

E) Both "a" and "b" are correct.

Q3) In what situations would UV radiation be an appropriate method for microbial control?

Q4) Which of the following would be most appropriate to reduce microorganisms in a wound?

A) an antiseptic

B) a disinfectant

C) UV Radiation

D) alcohol

E) any sterilization technique

Q5) What are some of the problems associated with the development of antiviral drugs?

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Page 14

Chapter 13: Epidemiology:

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Sample Questions

Q1) The incidence of disease:

A) is the total number of cases of a particular disease during an epidemic.

B) is calculated by subtracting the number of recovered individuals from the number of sick individuals.

C) is the number of new cases of a particular disease during a specified time period.

D) is the period of time measured in days, weeks, or years, during which an epidemic occurs.

E) is the average number of new cases infected by a single sick individual for a specific disease.

Q2) In the 1999 West Nile virus outbreak in New York City, which of the following pieces of evidence suggested that the pathogen under investigation was not St. Louis encephalitis (SLE)?

A) The time characteristic was not suggestive of SLE.

B) There was no mosquito involvement in this disease, as there would have been for SLE.

C) The viral particles were too small to be SLE.

D) Control measures initiated to control a SLE outbreak were not effective.

E) The case-control study indicated that this was not SLE.

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Page 15

Chapter 14: The Future Is Here: Microorganisms and Biotechnology

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Sample Questions

Q1) Genome analysis of bacteria has revealed:

A) that intracellular pathogens have the largest genomes of all bacteria.

B) nonfastidious bacteria have smaller genomes than fastidious bacteria.

C) that the genomes of different bacteria are remarkably similar.

D) bacteria can, at least on occasion, transfer virulence genes to each other.

Q2) Which of the following is an important obstacle to the routine use of gene therapy?

A) It has proven difficult to produce recombinant viruses carrying normal copies of a particular human gene.

B) It has proven difficult to get human host cells to express foreign genes in adequate amounts.

C) It has proven difficult to identify the human genes involved in genetic disorders.

D) None of the above is currently an obstacle. Gene therapy is now routine.

E) All of the above are important obstacles.

Q3) One of the concerns about genetically modified plants is how they might affect wild plants. In what way? Why is this worrisome?

Q4) What is the polymerase chain reaction? Briefly state how it works.

Q5) What exactly is a DNA library? What is a genomic library?

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Chapter 15: Guess Whos Coming to Dinner: Microorganisms and Food

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Sample Questions

Q1) In what way are microorganisms used in the production of coffee?

A) Extracts of coffee beans are fermented by bacteria.

B) Extracts of coffee beans are fermented by yeast.

C) Extracts of coffee beans are first fermented by yeast. Fermentation waste products released by the yeast are then converted in different products by aerobic bacteria.

D) Microorganisms that grow naturally on coffee beans provide the coffee with desirable flavors.

E) Bacteria are used to remove the coating of coffee beans prior to roasting.

Q2) In what way is the production of vinegar different from the production of the fermented food products discussed in this chapter?

Q3) Probiotics are:

A) any microbially fermented food.

B) food items that are produced by aerobic bacteria.

C) hormones that are produced by bacteria.

D) products that contain living microorganisms, thought to be beneficial.

E) antibiotics added to animal feed to encourage more rapid growth.

Q4) Provide a biochemical explanation for why bread rises during its production.

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Chapter 16: Better Living With Microorganisms: Industrial and Applied Microbiology

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Sample Questions

Q1) Some bacteria release electrons, which can then be bound to an electrode, generating electricity. This process may be used:

A) to produce cellulosic ethanol.

B) to produce biodegradable plastics.

C) to create microbial fuel cells.

D) to separate valuable minerals from rock deposits.

E) as a biologically produced hydrocarbon.

Q2) Metabolites are:

A) the substrate that is converted into a useful product by microorganisms.

B) an intermediate compound in a biochemical pathway, the final product of which is a useful product.

C) the final product in a biochemical pathway.

D) either "a" or "c" above

E) either "b" or "c" above

Q3) Which of the following statements about landfills is true?

A) Decomposition of garbage is slowed by anaerobic conditions.

B) Decomposition of garbage is slowed by aerobic conditions.

C) Decomposition of garbage is slowed by toxic chemicals, which kill microorganisms.

D) Decompostion of garbage is slowed by the release of methane.

Page 18

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