USUS UKUKIndiaIndia

Every Question Helps You Learn

Join Us
Streak
Leading Streak Today
Your Streak Today
Streak
Leading Streak Today
Your Streak Today
Biology - Microorganisms and Disease
Some pathogens, like bacteria and fungi, can be grown in Petri dishes.

Biology - Microorganisms and Disease

This Biology quiz is called 'Biology - Microorganisms and Disease' and it has been written by teachers to help you if you are studying the subject at high school. Playing educational quizzes is a user-friendly way to learn if you are in the 9th or 10th grade - aged 14 to 16.

It costs only $12.50 per month to play this quiz and over 3,500 others that help you with your school work. You can subscribe on the page at Join Us

One of the topics covered in high school science is the requirements for keeping healthy. This quiz concentrates in particular on microorganisms, such as bacteria or fungi, which cause disease.

It's hard to believe but there was a time when doctors who performed operations, examinations and post mortems did not wash their hands at all. The reason was that there was no 'germ theory'. They had no idea of the existence of microorganisms and no idea that some of these were pathogenic (create infectious diseases). Microorganisms are microscopic, living, single-celled organisms such as bacteria. Sometimes people refer to viruses as microorganisms, which they are not. Viruses are not alive, they are simply a strand of DNA in a protein coating.

The first steps towards the levels of hygiene that we know and use today came in the middle of the 19th Century when a Hungarian doctor, Ignaz Semmelweis, realized that disease was transferred from one patient to another on the hands of doctors. So he instructed his team to wash their hands in between working on different patients. The result was spectacular and immediate - patient deaths dropped dramatically.

There was no understanding of how this worked as the bacteria which cause infections had not been discovered. Because of this his idea was not accepted by other doctors at the time, even though the results were obvious. About 20 years after Semmelweis's discovery, French scientist Louis Pasteur came up with the 'germ theory'. He showed that food went off because of contamination by microorganisms from the air and argued that these could cause disease. His theory backed up what Semmelwies had said many years before and lead to the development of antiseptics.

Careful studies of pathogenic microorganisms can be carried out in a laboratory to find the most effective ways of defending against them. This is done using petri dishes partially filled with a nutrient gel. All of the equipment used has to be extremely well sterilized beforehand in order that the results are accurate. Growing microorganisms in a school laboratory could be dangerous so to keep the risks low, the cultures (sealed petri dish plus contents) are kept at temperatures of no higher than 25oC.

1.
When you catch a bad cold at the start of winter, quite often, the next few colds are not as bad. Which of the following options could be a reason for this?
It is only at the start of winter that the bad cold viruses are around
The drugs that you took to fight off the cold stay in your system and protect you
More cold weather weakens the virus that causes colds
Your immune system develops antibodies that protect you
Each time a pathogen makes you ill, your body develops defenses against it. Unfortunately, cold and influenza viruses gradually change (mutate) and so it is possible to catch a cold (or flu) again a few weeks later. It isn't as bad because the antibodies can still defend you. The longer you go between colds, the more the virus will change and the less your body will be able to defend itself
2.
Robert Koch discovered how to grow bacteria in a laboratory. How did this help medical science?
It prevented laboratory technicians from catching infectious diseases
It enabled him to identify some pathogenic microorganisms and linked them to specific diseases
It allowed doctors to make their own vaccines for their patients
It meant that hospitals could now save money on drugs
He discovered the cause of tuberculosis and cholera. Although he didn't have a cure, he developed methods of containing outbreaks of these two diseases. Modern methods for controlling the spread of infectious diseases are still based on his ideas from the end of the Nineteenth Century
3.
A group of Y11 students carried out an investigation into antibiotics which required them to grow some bacteria cultures. Which one of the following is not something they would have done whilst setting up the cultures?
Sterilize the Petri dishes and use sterilized agar gel
Sterilize the wire loops used for sampling in a flame
Seal the Petri dishes with sellotape
Pick up the antibiotic disks using their hands
The best way to handle antibiotic (and disinfectant) disks is using sterilized forceps
4.
How do bacteria and viruses make you feel ill?
They both damage the cells in your body
Bacteria irritate the cells of your body and viruses produce toxins
They take over the cells in your body
The waste materials from bacteria are toxic to the body and viruses damage your cells
Bacteria and viruses work in different ways
5.
Why are antibiotics no good for treating colds and 'flu?
Colds and 'flu are viruses
Colds and 'flu are not viruses
Colds and 'flu are caused by bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics
Antibiotics work too slowly
Viruses work by damaging cells from the inside so destroying them would probably do as much damage to the cell as the virus itself. However, doctors do in fact sometimes prescribe antibiotics when people have colds or flu in order to cure secondary infections. Whilst your body's defenses are weakened by the virus, it is more likely that bacteria can get past them, making you doubly ill
6.
Vaccination is used to immunize people against diseases. Pick the false statement:
When a vaccine is injected into the body, it stimulates the white blood cells to produce antibodies against the pathogen
There are no possible side-effects from any vaccination
Vaccines can contain the live pathogen that has been specially treated to make it harmless
Harmless fragments of the pathogen and toxins produced by pathogens can both be used as vaccines
There has been a lot of debate about the vaccine MMR which is used against measles, mumps and rubella as some people say it has harmful side effects
7.
Why are bacteria cultures in a school or college laboratory grown at much lower temperatures (25oC compared to 37oC) than in a professional microbiology lab?
It is less dangerous as the bacteria grow more slowly
It is cheaper
School agar gel melts at temperatures above 25oC
Schools and colleges can't leave the heaters on all day and all night
Pathogenic bacteria grow very efficiently at 37oC (body temperature). It would be dangerous to incubate (keep and grow) cultures at temperatures close to body temperature (37°C) in schools and colleges because doing so might allow the growth of large colonies of harmful pathogens
8.
Which of the following can be used to help protect your body from microorganisms?
Vaccination and antibiotics
Antibiotics only
Vaccination only
Nothing
Vaccination prevents infection but antibiotics treat bacterial infections. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses
9.
Which of the following is an example of passive immunity?
Mucus and cilia in the respiratory system
Hydrochloric acid in the stomach
Lysozyme (an enzyme) in tears
All three of the above
As well as these examples, there is also the skin which acts a physical barrier
10.
In many hospital wards it is necessary for you to wash your hands with a special gel before going in or out. Before the middle of the 19th Century, not even doctors washed their hands. Why not?
They didn't know about microorganisms and how they can cause disease
They were too lazy
Hand cleaning gels for hospitals had not been invented
Hospitals could not afford to buy soap for them to use
In the Crimean War (1853-56) 16,000 British soldiers died of illness caught in hospitals and fewer than 3,000 were killed in battle
Author:  Kev Woodward

© Copyright 2016-2024 - Education Quizzes
Work Innovate Ltd - Design | Development | Marketing

We use cookies to make your experience of our website better.

To comply with the new e-Privacy directive, we need to ask for your consent - I agree - No thanks - Find out more