Concept Questions - Chapter 21
Take some time to write answers to these questions.
If you can answer them, you have a good grasp of the material!

1. Describe the characteristics of Treponema pallidum that are related to its transmission.
Name some factors responsible for the current epidemic of syphilis.

2. Describe the stages of untreated syphilis infection. Where does the chancre occur, and what is in it?
What is happening as the chancre disappears?
Which stages are symptomatic, and which are communicable?
What is syphilis latency?
For which tissues does the spirochete have an affinity?

3. Describe the conditions leading to congenital syphilis and the long-term effects of the disease.

4. Describe the nonspecific and specific tests for syphilis. What do they test for?
Why are they so important?

5. Outline the general characteristics of bejel, yaws, and pinta.

6. Describe the epidemiology and pathology of leptospirosis.

7. Describe the three major borrelioses.
How are arthropods involved?
Why are there relapses in relapsing fever?
What does it mean for a patient to be borrelemic or rickettsemic?
How are these conditions related to the role of vectors in the spread of disease?

8. Trace the route of the infectious agent from a tick bite to infection.
Do the same for lice.

9. Overview the natural history of Lyme disease and its symptoms.
Explain why it may be mistaken for arthritis, allergy, and neurological diseases.

10. Briefly, what is the natural history of cholera?
What is its principal pathologic feature?

11. What is secretory diarrhea?
How does oral rehydration therapy work?

12. Briefly describe the nature of food infection in species of Vibrio and the diseases of Campylobacter.
What diseases are Helicobacter pylori involved in?
Describe its method of invasion and pathogenesis.

13. What do rickettsias and chlamydias derive from the host?
How do antibiotics work to control them?

14. Describe the life cycles of Rickettsia prowazekii, Rickettsia rickettsii, and Coxiella burnetii.
What are the predisposing factors for the types of disease caused by each species?
What makes Coxiella unique?
Why are dogs so important in transmission of RMSF?
What are the general symptoms of rickettsial infections?

15. Compare the elementary body and the reticulate body of chlamydias.
How are chlamydias transmitted?
Describe the major complications of eye infections and STDs.

16. What are the pathologic effects of Mycoplasma penumoniae?
Why are the symptoms of mycoplasma pneumonia so mild?
Why doesn’t penicillin work on mycoplasma infection?

17. In what ways are dental diseases mixed infections?
Discuss the major factors in the development of dental caries and periodontal infections.

18. Which diseases in this chapter are zoonoses?
Name them and the major vector involved.

19. Find all of the different agents of STDs in this chapter.
Find all of the different agents of pneumonia.
Find all of the agents of gastroenteritis.

20. Matching. Match each disease in the left column with its vector (or vectors) in the right column.

21. Matching. Match each disease in the left column with its portal of entry in the right column.

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