CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN BIOLOGY TCU
EXAM 1 2026 COMPLETE STUDY GUIDE
WITH VERIFIED QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
⩥ Fleas spread plague by?. Answer: feeding on blood of mammals like
rats, spreading the bacteria that causes plague.
⩥ Malaria. Answer: One of the most deadly diseases in human history.
Today it sickens 219,000,000 a year and kills 600,000 people a year,
mostly children.
⩥ Malaria caused by?. Answer: Protozoan (a single celled organism) that
infects humans and destroys red blood cells.
⩥ symptoms of malaria. Answer: Shivering, pain, fever and sometimes
death is caused when the red blood cells burst, releasing a new
generation of malarial parasites. When young children are infected they
can have permanent brain damage and death
⩥ Historic Effects of Defeat Malaria. Answer: Prevention of disease w/
drugs like Chloroquine to kill malarial parasites.
,⩥ Control Mosquitos by?. Answer: Draining wetlands where mosquitoes
breed and using pesticides like DDT to kill mosquitos
⩥ Chloroquine. Answer: is a medication to treat or prevent malaria.
⩥ How does Chloroquine work?. Answer: by interfering w/ the growth
of parasites in the red blood cells of the human body
⩥ Malaria is usually spread by?. Answer: Getting bitten by a mosquito
caring the disease
⩥ Resistance to Chloroquine. Answer: Malaria strains of plasmodia have
become resistant to chloroquine. Individual plasmodia (the single celled
organism that causes malaria) have genetic mutations that confer
resistance. These resistant plasmodium survive and reproduce while
individuals w/o the mutations die off.
⩥ DDT. Answer: Spray to kill Mosquitoes, but was banned in 1972 in
USA
⩥ Pyrethrin Insecticides. Answer: were developed from a natural
substance in chrysanthemums. Thought to be non-toxic to humans but
little research in this area has been done. Used for a decade(s) long
campaign against malaria, responsible for saving more than a million
lives.
,⩥ Pyrethroid Resistance. Answer: Mosquitoes become resistant to
pyrethroids. Individual mosquitoes have genetic mutations that confer
resistance. These resistant mosquitoes survive and reproduce while
individuals w/o the mutations die off
⩥ West Nile Virus in birds. Answer: Found in over 200 bird pieces,
especially lethal to crows and blue jays. Mosquitoes become infected
with virus when they bite birds.
⩥ West Nile Infections and Mortalities. Answer: between 1999 and
2012, there have been 37,000 human cases of West Nile virus and 1,500
human deaths in the U.S. and 1/150 people are infected and get brain
related diseases
⩥ Ticks. Answer: feed on blood to get protein to make eggs. They
anchor their barbed mouthparts below the skin suck blood. Enlarged
(full of blood) after feeding.
⩥ Different life stages of a Deer tick. Answer: 1) Larva (tiny)
2) Nymph (small)
3) Adult Male (Medium)
4) Adult Female (Big)
, ⩥ The Nymph Stage of a Deer Tick. Answer: Nymph stage of the deer
tick most often transmits lyme disease to humans. Very small and
difficult to see. It injects an anesthetic into the skin to mask the pain of
the bite, so a person usually never notices when bitten.
⩥ What causes lyme disease?. Answer: A corkscrew-shaped bacterium
(borrelia burgdorerí) Transmitted by (backlogged tick) deer tick bite.
⩥ White-footed Mice. Answer: Carriers of the bacterium that causes
lyme disease, are abundance in small forest fragments in the East and
Northeast
⩥ Effects of Lyme Disease. Answer: - Flu like symptoms
- bull's eye rash at site of bite
- Arthritis-like symptoms in joints, facial palsy, irregular heartbeat
- Bacteria may attack nervous system resulting in behavioral and
memory changes
- death is rare
⩥ Treatment for Lyme Disease. Answer: with treatment and appropriate
antibiotics in the early stages of lyme disease usually recover rapidly and
completely
BUT
patient with certain neurological or cardiac forms of illness may require
intravenous treatment with drugs such as ceftriaxone or penicillin
EXAM 1 2026 COMPLETE STUDY GUIDE
WITH VERIFIED QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS
⩥ Fleas spread plague by?. Answer: feeding on blood of mammals like
rats, spreading the bacteria that causes plague.
⩥ Malaria. Answer: One of the most deadly diseases in human history.
Today it sickens 219,000,000 a year and kills 600,000 people a year,
mostly children.
⩥ Malaria caused by?. Answer: Protozoan (a single celled organism) that
infects humans and destroys red blood cells.
⩥ symptoms of malaria. Answer: Shivering, pain, fever and sometimes
death is caused when the red blood cells burst, releasing a new
generation of malarial parasites. When young children are infected they
can have permanent brain damage and death
⩥ Historic Effects of Defeat Malaria. Answer: Prevention of disease w/
drugs like Chloroquine to kill malarial parasites.
,⩥ Control Mosquitos by?. Answer: Draining wetlands where mosquitoes
breed and using pesticides like DDT to kill mosquitos
⩥ Chloroquine. Answer: is a medication to treat or prevent malaria.
⩥ How does Chloroquine work?. Answer: by interfering w/ the growth
of parasites in the red blood cells of the human body
⩥ Malaria is usually spread by?. Answer: Getting bitten by a mosquito
caring the disease
⩥ Resistance to Chloroquine. Answer: Malaria strains of plasmodia have
become resistant to chloroquine. Individual plasmodia (the single celled
organism that causes malaria) have genetic mutations that confer
resistance. These resistant plasmodium survive and reproduce while
individuals w/o the mutations die off.
⩥ DDT. Answer: Spray to kill Mosquitoes, but was banned in 1972 in
USA
⩥ Pyrethrin Insecticides. Answer: were developed from a natural
substance in chrysanthemums. Thought to be non-toxic to humans but
little research in this area has been done. Used for a decade(s) long
campaign against malaria, responsible for saving more than a million
lives.
,⩥ Pyrethroid Resistance. Answer: Mosquitoes become resistant to
pyrethroids. Individual mosquitoes have genetic mutations that confer
resistance. These resistant mosquitoes survive and reproduce while
individuals w/o the mutations die off
⩥ West Nile Virus in birds. Answer: Found in over 200 bird pieces,
especially lethal to crows and blue jays. Mosquitoes become infected
with virus when they bite birds.
⩥ West Nile Infections and Mortalities. Answer: between 1999 and
2012, there have been 37,000 human cases of West Nile virus and 1,500
human deaths in the U.S. and 1/150 people are infected and get brain
related diseases
⩥ Ticks. Answer: feed on blood to get protein to make eggs. They
anchor their barbed mouthparts below the skin suck blood. Enlarged
(full of blood) after feeding.
⩥ Different life stages of a Deer tick. Answer: 1) Larva (tiny)
2) Nymph (small)
3) Adult Male (Medium)
4) Adult Female (Big)
, ⩥ The Nymph Stage of a Deer Tick. Answer: Nymph stage of the deer
tick most often transmits lyme disease to humans. Very small and
difficult to see. It injects an anesthetic into the skin to mask the pain of
the bite, so a person usually never notices when bitten.
⩥ What causes lyme disease?. Answer: A corkscrew-shaped bacterium
(borrelia burgdorerí) Transmitted by (backlogged tick) deer tick bite.
⩥ White-footed Mice. Answer: Carriers of the bacterium that causes
lyme disease, are abundance in small forest fragments in the East and
Northeast
⩥ Effects of Lyme Disease. Answer: - Flu like symptoms
- bull's eye rash at site of bite
- Arthritis-like symptoms in joints, facial palsy, irregular heartbeat
- Bacteria may attack nervous system resulting in behavioral and
memory changes
- death is rare
⩥ Treatment for Lyme Disease. Answer: with treatment and appropriate
antibiotics in the early stages of lyme disease usually recover rapidly and
completely
BUT
patient with certain neurological or cardiac forms of illness may require
intravenous treatment with drugs such as ceftriaxone or penicillin
