NURS 375 FINAL QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Which infections continue to increase in the United States? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- STDs
- Treatable sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), such as syphilis and gonorrhea, had declined until 2000
but increased in 2007 for the seventh straight year. At the same time, incidence of chlamydia, another
treatable STD, has increased steadily since 1995, and the number of cases reached 1,108,374 (370.2 per
100,000 people) in 2007.
What is particularly notable about infectious disease in the United States? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Rate
of infection varies extensively by income and ethnic groups.
- Probably one of the most profound failures in infectious disease control in the United States and
elsewhere is that the successes are not equally distributed in the general population. Infectious diseases
continue to be differentially distributed by income and ethnic groups, and the poor and minorities
continue to experience the greater burden.
What is a fairly recent surprise regarding infectious diseases in the United States? CORRECT
ANSWERS✓✓- Cervical cancer and coronary artery disease may be caused by infectious agents.
- Recent scientific discoveries on the infectious etiology of stomach ulcers, coronary artery disease, and
cervical cancer, for example, suggest that infectious agents may be responsible for more morbidity and
mortality than previously recognized.
Which component of the epidemiological triangle is primarily responsible for a female client having a
fungal vaginal infection after being treated with antibiotics for strep throat? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓-
Host
- Infectious diseases are the result of interaction among the human host, an infectious agent, and the
environment, which surrounds the human host and where transmission is occurring. This interaction is
pictured in the epidemiological triad of agent, host, and environment also discussed in Chapter 5. The
antibiotic therapy eliminated a specific pathological agent, but it also may alter the balance of normally
occurring organisms in the woman's body, which caused a change in the vaginal environment allowing
normally present fungi to proliferate, resulting in a yeast infection.
Which is true concerning tuberculosis infections in the United States? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Under
certain conditions, susceptible hosts may be infected by the tuberculosis bacillus.
- The principle of multicausation emphasizes that an infectious agent alone is not sufficient to cause
disease; the agent must be transmitted within a conducive environment to a susceptible host.
,Tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis; treatment with INH lasts for a year and is used
when no active disease is present; patients can be contagious without having any symptoms.
*One child in a kindergarten room had a slight fever and didn't eat lunch. Otherwise, the child seemed
OK. Three days later, several children were absent from kindergarten. What happened? CORRECT
ANSWERS✓✓- Infectious diseases can be contagious before any diagnostic symptoms occur.
- The communicable period, or communicability, follows latency and begins with shedding of the agent.
The incubation period is the time from invasion to the time when disease symptoms first appear.
Frequently, the communicable period begins before symptoms are present.
- Incubation/latency period
A day care center asked the nurse to come because they had several children out as a result of
chickenpox. How might the nurse reassure the staff? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Chickenpox has low
virulence so the children will be back at the day care center in a week or so.
- Other considerations for understanding the action of agents include their power to invade and infect
large numbers of people (infectivity), their ability to produce disease in those infected with the agent
(pathogenicity), and their ability to produce serious disease in their hosts (virulence). When the above
concepts are applied, the chickenpox virus has high infectivity, high pathogenicity, and very low
virulence.
A city that depended on tourist dollars had feedback that tourists were saying they were never returning
because of the constant mosquito bites. What should the town do? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Have
everyone in town search for and remove any standing stagnant water
- Knowing the reservoirs for infectious agents is important because, in some cases, transmission can be
controlled by eliminating the reservoir, such as eliminating the standing water where mosquitoes breed.
The daily patrons of a local town restaurant became ill with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Without
knowing the cause, what should be done immediately to help avoid future problems? CORRECT
ANSWERS✓✓- Strongly emphasize the importance of proper hand washing to staff
- Agents leave the human host through a portal of exit and invade through a portal of entry. Portals of
exit include respiratory secretions, vaginal secretions, semen, saliva, lesion exudates, blood, and feces.
Portals of entry are associated with the portal of exit and include the respiratory passages, mucous
membranes, skin and blood vessels, oral cavity, and the placenta. Because it was food poisoning of some
sort, until the cause is known, it can be assumed to probably be a fecal-oral transmission. Therefore,
staff need to again be reminded of the importance of careful hand washing after using the facilities.
,*Why are clinical areas so careful to assure sanitization of surfaces and equipment between each
patient? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- To decrease transmission by fomites
- Indirect transmission is the spread of infection through a vehicle of transmission outside the host.
These may be contaminated fomites or vectors. Fomites can be any inanimate object, material, or
substance that acts as a transport agent for a microbe (e.g., water, a telephone, or a contaminated
tissue).
What is the first step in preventing further spread of a particular sexually transmitted disease (STD)?
CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Treat each infected person with the appropriate pharmaceutical agent
- Anti-infective drugs, such as antibiotics, antivirals, antiretrovirals, and antimalarials, play important
roles in controlling infectious diseases. Not only do they permit recovery of the infected person, but
they also play a major role in preventing transmission of the pathogens to another. The first step in
preventing transmission of tuberculosis and syphilis is to treat the infected person with antibiotics.
Because the question asks about further spread, infection in a person has been diagnosed, so education
is needed, but it is too late for that person. Adults not in school also are infected with STDs.
A case of viral hemorrhagic fever (Ebola) was diagnosed immediately on signs of illness at a tourist site
in Africa. What should be done to protect the badly needed income from tourist dollars? CORRECT
ANSWERS✓✓- Quarantine the ill person and use isolation techniques in giving care
- Although students may not know the screening of or treatment of Ebola, they should know to isolate
persons with infectious diseases. Ebola is not highly infectious until symptoms occur. Treating infected
persons, whether they are symptomatic or not, is effective in preventing transmission of pathogens
directly to others.
*What can be used to protect staff at a community clinic when a patient walks in complaining of severe
intestinal cramps and diarrhea? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Use universal precautions with all patients
regardless of the situation
- In the late 1980s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed a set of guidelines,
called universal precautions, to prevent transmission of diseases found in blood and other body fluids.
These guidelines were developed because infected people may be asymptomatic and have no
knowledge of their conditions; therefore health care workers must assume that all patients are
infectious and protect themselves.
*During an outbreak in the hospital, all staff members were given immunoglobulin if they were not
already immune to the disease. What sort of immunity will the staff that received the immunoglobulin
then have? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Passive immunity
, - Passive immunity is the temporary resistance that has been donated to the host through transfusions
of plasma proteins, immunoglobulins, or antitoxins, or transplacentally, from mother to neonate.
Passive immunity lasts only as long as these substances remain in the bloodstream. Active immunity is
when the body produces its own antibodies against an antigen, from either infection with the pathogen
or introduction of the pathogen in a vaccine.
*The nurse couldn't find a vaccine in the refrigerator. The unopened vaccine vial had been put in a
storage cabinet with the other medications. The nurse drew up the appropriate dose in the syringe and
then put the vial of vaccine in the refrigerator. What will be the probable result? CORRECT
ANSWERS✓✓- Primary vaccine failure
- Primary vaccine failure is the failure of a vaccine to stimulate any immune response. It can be caused
by improper storage that may render the vaccines ineffective, improper administration route, or
exposure of light-sensitive vaccines to light.
- Ineffective vaccine
*A school had tried very hard to uphold the requirement for all children to be vaccinated. However,
state law allowed parents to exempt their child if they had a religious reason for refusal. Two children
had come down with chickenpox. What will be the probable result? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Few
children will get chickenpox because of herd immunity.
- Herd immunity is a state in which those not immune to an infectious agent will be protected if a certain
proportion (generally considered to be 80%) of the population has been vaccinated or is otherwise
immune. Because most children in the school are immune, it will be difficult for the chickenpox to
spread.
A community health clinic put a tax levy on the ballot. An angry man asks you, "How can you ask me to
pay taxes to buy immunizations for parents who don't want to pay for their kids to get their shots?"
What is your response? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- "Only by getting almost everyone immunized can we
prevent epidemics that can hurt us all."
- Herd immunity is a state in which those not immune to an infectious agent will be protected if a certain
proportion (generally considered to be 80%) of the population has been vaccinated or is otherwise
immune. If most persons are immune, it will be difficult for an infectious disease to spread.
How are infectious diseases any different from any other health problem? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓-
Infectious diseases have the potential to spread, creating a community emergency
- Most human diseases (e.g., cancer or diabetes) can be classified as personal health problems.
Individuals with a personal health problem can be treated by the health care system one person at a
time. By contrast, infectious diseases are categorized as public or community health problems. Because
Which infections continue to increase in the United States? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- STDs
- Treatable sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), such as syphilis and gonorrhea, had declined until 2000
but increased in 2007 for the seventh straight year. At the same time, incidence of chlamydia, another
treatable STD, has increased steadily since 1995, and the number of cases reached 1,108,374 (370.2 per
100,000 people) in 2007.
What is particularly notable about infectious disease in the United States? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Rate
of infection varies extensively by income and ethnic groups.
- Probably one of the most profound failures in infectious disease control in the United States and
elsewhere is that the successes are not equally distributed in the general population. Infectious diseases
continue to be differentially distributed by income and ethnic groups, and the poor and minorities
continue to experience the greater burden.
What is a fairly recent surprise regarding infectious diseases in the United States? CORRECT
ANSWERS✓✓- Cervical cancer and coronary artery disease may be caused by infectious agents.
- Recent scientific discoveries on the infectious etiology of stomach ulcers, coronary artery disease, and
cervical cancer, for example, suggest that infectious agents may be responsible for more morbidity and
mortality than previously recognized.
Which component of the epidemiological triangle is primarily responsible for a female client having a
fungal vaginal infection after being treated with antibiotics for strep throat? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓-
Host
- Infectious diseases are the result of interaction among the human host, an infectious agent, and the
environment, which surrounds the human host and where transmission is occurring. This interaction is
pictured in the epidemiological triad of agent, host, and environment also discussed in Chapter 5. The
antibiotic therapy eliminated a specific pathological agent, but it also may alter the balance of normally
occurring organisms in the woman's body, which caused a change in the vaginal environment allowing
normally present fungi to proliferate, resulting in a yeast infection.
Which is true concerning tuberculosis infections in the United States? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Under
certain conditions, susceptible hosts may be infected by the tuberculosis bacillus.
- The principle of multicausation emphasizes that an infectious agent alone is not sufficient to cause
disease; the agent must be transmitted within a conducive environment to a susceptible host.
,Tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis; treatment with INH lasts for a year and is used
when no active disease is present; patients can be contagious without having any symptoms.
*One child in a kindergarten room had a slight fever and didn't eat lunch. Otherwise, the child seemed
OK. Three days later, several children were absent from kindergarten. What happened? CORRECT
ANSWERS✓✓- Infectious diseases can be contagious before any diagnostic symptoms occur.
- The communicable period, or communicability, follows latency and begins with shedding of the agent.
The incubation period is the time from invasion to the time when disease symptoms first appear.
Frequently, the communicable period begins before symptoms are present.
- Incubation/latency period
A day care center asked the nurse to come because they had several children out as a result of
chickenpox. How might the nurse reassure the staff? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Chickenpox has low
virulence so the children will be back at the day care center in a week or so.
- Other considerations for understanding the action of agents include their power to invade and infect
large numbers of people (infectivity), their ability to produce disease in those infected with the agent
(pathogenicity), and their ability to produce serious disease in their hosts (virulence). When the above
concepts are applied, the chickenpox virus has high infectivity, high pathogenicity, and very low
virulence.
A city that depended on tourist dollars had feedback that tourists were saying they were never returning
because of the constant mosquito bites. What should the town do? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Have
everyone in town search for and remove any standing stagnant water
- Knowing the reservoirs for infectious agents is important because, in some cases, transmission can be
controlled by eliminating the reservoir, such as eliminating the standing water where mosquitoes breed.
The daily patrons of a local town restaurant became ill with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Without
knowing the cause, what should be done immediately to help avoid future problems? CORRECT
ANSWERS✓✓- Strongly emphasize the importance of proper hand washing to staff
- Agents leave the human host through a portal of exit and invade through a portal of entry. Portals of
exit include respiratory secretions, vaginal secretions, semen, saliva, lesion exudates, blood, and feces.
Portals of entry are associated with the portal of exit and include the respiratory passages, mucous
membranes, skin and blood vessels, oral cavity, and the placenta. Because it was food poisoning of some
sort, until the cause is known, it can be assumed to probably be a fecal-oral transmission. Therefore,
staff need to again be reminded of the importance of careful hand washing after using the facilities.
,*Why are clinical areas so careful to assure sanitization of surfaces and equipment between each
patient? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- To decrease transmission by fomites
- Indirect transmission is the spread of infection through a vehicle of transmission outside the host.
These may be contaminated fomites or vectors. Fomites can be any inanimate object, material, or
substance that acts as a transport agent for a microbe (e.g., water, a telephone, or a contaminated
tissue).
What is the first step in preventing further spread of a particular sexually transmitted disease (STD)?
CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Treat each infected person with the appropriate pharmaceutical agent
- Anti-infective drugs, such as antibiotics, antivirals, antiretrovirals, and antimalarials, play important
roles in controlling infectious diseases. Not only do they permit recovery of the infected person, but
they also play a major role in preventing transmission of the pathogens to another. The first step in
preventing transmission of tuberculosis and syphilis is to treat the infected person with antibiotics.
Because the question asks about further spread, infection in a person has been diagnosed, so education
is needed, but it is too late for that person. Adults not in school also are infected with STDs.
A case of viral hemorrhagic fever (Ebola) was diagnosed immediately on signs of illness at a tourist site
in Africa. What should be done to protect the badly needed income from tourist dollars? CORRECT
ANSWERS✓✓- Quarantine the ill person and use isolation techniques in giving care
- Although students may not know the screening of or treatment of Ebola, they should know to isolate
persons with infectious diseases. Ebola is not highly infectious until symptoms occur. Treating infected
persons, whether they are symptomatic or not, is effective in preventing transmission of pathogens
directly to others.
*What can be used to protect staff at a community clinic when a patient walks in complaining of severe
intestinal cramps and diarrhea? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Use universal precautions with all patients
regardless of the situation
- In the late 1980s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed a set of guidelines,
called universal precautions, to prevent transmission of diseases found in blood and other body fluids.
These guidelines were developed because infected people may be asymptomatic and have no
knowledge of their conditions; therefore health care workers must assume that all patients are
infectious and protect themselves.
*During an outbreak in the hospital, all staff members were given immunoglobulin if they were not
already immune to the disease. What sort of immunity will the staff that received the immunoglobulin
then have? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Passive immunity
, - Passive immunity is the temporary resistance that has been donated to the host through transfusions
of plasma proteins, immunoglobulins, or antitoxins, or transplacentally, from mother to neonate.
Passive immunity lasts only as long as these substances remain in the bloodstream. Active immunity is
when the body produces its own antibodies against an antigen, from either infection with the pathogen
or introduction of the pathogen in a vaccine.
*The nurse couldn't find a vaccine in the refrigerator. The unopened vaccine vial had been put in a
storage cabinet with the other medications. The nurse drew up the appropriate dose in the syringe and
then put the vial of vaccine in the refrigerator. What will be the probable result? CORRECT
ANSWERS✓✓- Primary vaccine failure
- Primary vaccine failure is the failure of a vaccine to stimulate any immune response. It can be caused
by improper storage that may render the vaccines ineffective, improper administration route, or
exposure of light-sensitive vaccines to light.
- Ineffective vaccine
*A school had tried very hard to uphold the requirement for all children to be vaccinated. However,
state law allowed parents to exempt their child if they had a religious reason for refusal. Two children
had come down with chickenpox. What will be the probable result? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- Few
children will get chickenpox because of herd immunity.
- Herd immunity is a state in which those not immune to an infectious agent will be protected if a certain
proportion (generally considered to be 80%) of the population has been vaccinated or is otherwise
immune. Because most children in the school are immune, it will be difficult for the chickenpox to
spread.
A community health clinic put a tax levy on the ballot. An angry man asks you, "How can you ask me to
pay taxes to buy immunizations for parents who don't want to pay for their kids to get their shots?"
What is your response? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓- "Only by getting almost everyone immunized can we
prevent epidemics that can hurt us all."
- Herd immunity is a state in which those not immune to an infectious agent will be protected if a certain
proportion (generally considered to be 80%) of the population has been vaccinated or is otherwise
immune. If most persons are immune, it will be difficult for an infectious disease to spread.
How are infectious diseases any different from any other health problem? CORRECT ANSWERS✓✓-
Infectious diseases have the potential to spread, creating a community emergency
- Most human diseases (e.g., cancer or diabetes) can be classified as personal health problems.
Individuals with a personal health problem can be treated by the health care system one person at a
time. By contrast, infectious diseases are categorized as public or community health problems. Because
