Exam 12: Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases

The site where a disease agent enters the body is the:

Host factors in the causation of disease include:

Which of the following infections shows a high subclinical/clinical ratio (inapparent/apparent ratio)?

An outbreak of salmonellosis occurred after an epidemiology department luncheon, which was attended by 485 faculty and staff. Assume everyone ate the same food items. Sixty-five people had fever and diarrhea; five of these people were severely affected. Subsequent laboratory tests on everyone who attended the luncheon revealed an additional 72 cases. The attack rate of salmonellosis was:

With respect to a hypothetical rabies investigation conducted among veterinary workers, researchers found that rabies was almost always fatal. This finding refers to:

In two communities of similar size and age structure (A and B), there were outbreaks of viral illnesses (virus A in community A, and virus B in community B), both of which were traced back to a single source. Exposure to these viruses in each community confers permanent immunity. In community A, 200 susceptible people were exposed to an index case, 150 people were infected (not including the index case), 75 people became ill, and 40 people died. In community B, pathogenicity was 40%, infectivity was 90%, and virulence was 60%. Which virus was most pathogenic?

Physical environmental factors in the natural history of disease include weather, temperature, and biologic components.

The term generation time relates to the time interval between lodgment of an infectious agent in a host and the maximal communicability of the host.

Vaccine-preventable diseases include Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published an article concerning the high rate of foot fungal disease in New Orleans. The article explains that there has been a high rate of foot fungal disease in New Orleans for decades. Foot fungal disease in New Orleans is best described as:

The attack rate is:

Lyme disease is an example of a disease transmitted by arthropod vectors.

Reasons for the resurgence of tuberculosis include the increasing prevalence of HIV infection.

The public health officer from Long Beach complains to you about the dreaded Pacific Pox. The health officer says, "If people catch the Pox, they suddenly get the urge to dance in the sand and fall dead on the beach within the hour." There are no survivors to interview. so you deduce:

The reservoir for Q fever is infected livestock, such as cattle, sheep, or goats.

The presence of an infectious agent is a sufficient cause for outbreaks of infectious disease to occur.

Herd immunity must be 100% to confer protection to a group.

An important point about the agent-host-environment model (the epidemiologic triangle) of epidemiologic investigation is that:

Sexually transmitted diseases, influenza, and acute respiratory infections are examples of conditions transmitted directly (person-to-person).

Herd immunity refers to protection of a population against an infectious disease when a large proportion of individuals are immune through either vaccinations or past infections.