Common Health Problems and Programmes Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The correct matching is a-II, b-IV, c-I, d-III.

• Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) is given intramuscularly (II).
• Rotavirus vaccine (RVV) is given orally (IV).
• Inactivated polio vaccine is given as a fractional dose intradermally (fIPV) under the national programme (I).
• Measles-rubella (MR) vaccine is given subcutaneously (III).

Option B pairs the lists in printed order, which would make the oral rotavirus vaccine an injection.

Answer: D

The statement that is not true is Clostridium tetani is a normal inhabitant of the intestine of reptiles.

Clostridium tetani lives normally in the intestines of herbivorous animals such as horses and cattle (and sometimes humans). Its spores are passed in their dung and survive for years in soil, especially manured soil, which is why tetanus is commonest in agricultural and rural communities. It is not described as a normal inhabitant of reptiles.

The other statements are true: tetanus is often fatal, with tonic spasms starting in the jaw (lockjaw) and neck and spreading to the muscles of the trunk.

Answer: A

Whooping cough is caused by Bordetella pertussis.

Pertussis is a bacterial infection of the airways, marked by bouts of coughing that end in a high-pitched 'whoop'. It is prevented by the pertussis component of the DPT and pentavalent vaccines.

Pasteurella (now Yersinia) pestis causes plague, Bacillus anthracis causes anthrax, and Naegleria fowleri is the amoeba that causes a rare brain infection.

Answer: C

The correct statements are a, b and c.

Active immunity, produced by infection or vaccination, generally gives long-lasting protection because the body makes memory cells (a). Live attenuated vaccines contain organisms whose virulence has been weakened (b). Killed or inactivated vaccines contain organisms made inactive by chemicals or heat (c).

Statement d is wrong: inactivated vaccines usually produce a weaker immune response than live vaccines, which is why several doses and boosters are needed, as with injectable polio vaccine and the DPT series.

Answer: B

The correct statements are a, b and d.

Each virus has genetic material of either DNA or RNA, not both (a). Measles is caused by the rubeola virus (b), and it spreads most in late winter and spring (d).

Statement c is wrong because the measles virus is an RNA virus. Statement e is wrong because measles is prevented by vaccine, given in India as the measles-rubella (MR) vaccine at 9 to 12 and 16 to 24 months.

Answer: D

The key is a, b and d.

• (a) Infectious eye conditions such as conjunctivitis spread from person to person through contact and shared items: correct.
• (b) Lack of vitamins, above all vitamin A, damages the surface of the eye and makes it open to infection, so the key counts this as correct.
• (c) Contact lens wearers are in fact at higher risk of eye infection, so this is false.
• (d) Bacterial conjunctivitis causes red, swollen, itchy, often sticky eyes: correct.

Options A and B contain (c), which is false. Option C, 'a and d', leaves out (b), which the key accepts; strictly vitamin A deficiency causes xerophthalmia, a disease of the eye surface, and the link to infection is through lowered resistance.

Answer: A

The correct matching is a-III, b-IV, c-I, d-II.

• Measles is caused by the rubeola virus (III).
• TB is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (IV).
• Diphtheria is caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae (I).
• Pneumonia is most commonly caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae (II).

Option D swaps diphtheria and pneumonia, and option B pairs the lists in printed order.

Answer: B

The worm diseases are (c) and (d) only.

Ascariasis is caused by the roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides, which lives in the intestine. Elephantiasis (lymphatic filariasis) is caused by filarial worms such as Wuchereria bancrofti, spread by mosquitoes.

Despite its name, ringworm is a fungal infection of the skin, not a worm. Amoebiasis is caused by the protozoan Entamoeba histolytica. So every option including (a) or (b) is wrong.

Answer: B

The keyed answer is that immunization prevents children from getting diseases for which there are often no medical treatments.

Vaccines train the immune system to resist particular diseases before the child meets them. Many of these diseases, such as polio, measles and tetanus once established, have no cure or no specific treatment, so prevention is the only reliable protection.

Immunization does nothing about obesity or an unhealthy environment. 'Prevents children from getting infected' is too sweeping: vaccines protect against specific diseases, not against infection in general.

Answer: C

AIDS is spread by (a), (b) and (c) only.

HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is transmitted through certain body fluids: by sexual contact with an infected person (a), by transfusion of contaminated blood or sharing needles (b), and from an infected mother to her child during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding (c).

It is not spread by casual contact such as sharing a bed or clothes (d), hugging, or sharing food, so options including (d) are wrong.