Pathogenicity is a microbe's ability to cause disease, while virulence describes how severe that disease is.
Missing Word
virulence
Virulence is the degree of harm a pathogen causes. Two organisms can both cause disease, yet one can be far more virulent and produce more severe illness.
Category: Infectious Process
Question 2
The epidemiologic triad links a susceptible host and an infectious agent with a third element, the environment, that brings them together.
Missing Word
environment
The environment is the setting, such as air, water, soil, food or crowded housing, that allows host and agent to meet. Changes in the environment can increase waterborne, foodborne and insect-borne disease.
Category: Infectious Process
Question 3
Malaria and West Nile virus reach people through the bites of mosquitoes, which act as vectors that carry the pathogen between hosts.
Missing Word
vectors
Vectors are living carriers, usually insects or ticks, that transmit a pathogen from one host to another. Diseases spread this way are infectious, but they do not pass directly from person to person.
Category: Infectious Process
Question 4
A health care-associated infection that a patient acquires during care for another condition is also called a nosocomial infection.
Missing Word
nosocomial
Nosocomial means acquired in a health care setting. Such infections prolong hospital stays, worsen outcomes and raise costs, so prevention is a core nursing responsibility.
Category: Infectious Process
Question 5
Interstitial fluid that drains into the body's network of thin-walled drainage vessels is called lymph, and nodes filter it before it returns to the blood.
Missing Word
lymph
Lymph is interstitial fluid once it has entered the lymphatic vessels. Filtering it through nodes lets immune cells catch pathogens before the fluid rejoins the bloodstream.
Category: Host Defenses
Question 6
Monocytes are white blood cells that leave the bloodstream and mature into macrophages, which engulf microbes.
Missing Word
Monocytes
Monocytes circulate in the blood and then enter tissues, where they become macrophages or dendritic cells. Their engulfing activity helps clear infection and debris.
Category: Host Defenses
Question 7
Foreign molecules, often proteins on a pathogen's surface, that the immune system recognizes and that stimulate the production of specific antibodies are called antigens.
Missing Word
antigens
Antigens are the molecules that mark a pathogen as foreign. Dendritic cells capture them and present them to T and B cells, which launches the specific adaptive response and the production of antibodies matched to that antigen.
Category: Host Defenses
Question 8
The adaptive immune response is slower than barrier and innate defenses but is specific, and it is carried out mainly by lymphocytes.
Missing Word
lymphocytes
Lymphocytes recognize specific antigens and are the most effective infection fighters among white blood cells. Their response takes longer to build but targets a particular pathogen.
Category: Host Defenses
Question 9
Infections such as Pneumocystis pneumonia and oral candidiasis that take advantage of the severely weakened immune system in AIDS are called opportunistic infections.
Missing Word
opportunistic
Opportunistic infections are caused by organisms that rarely make healthy people ill but invade when immunity is weak. Their appearance helps define the progression of HIV to AIDS.
Category: HIV and Hepatitis
Question 10
Every type of viral hepatitis targets hepatocytes, the main functional cells of the liver.
Missing Word
hepatocytes
Hepatocytes are the liver cells that carry out metabolism and detoxification. Inflammation during viral replication injures them, which raises liver enzymes and bilirubin and can cause jaundice.
Category: HIV and Hepatitis
Question 11
Thick, yellow drainage that contains pus, like that from an MRSA boil, is described as purulent.
Missing Word
purulent
Purulent drainage contains pus, made of white blood cells, dead tissue and bacteria, and it signals infection. In MRSA skin infections it often comes from red, warm boils, and the nurse reports any spread or new systemic signs.
Category: Antibiotic Resistance
Question 12
Antibiotic stewardship is the coordinated effort to choose, dose and time antibiotics so infections are cured without encouraging resistance.
Missing Word
stewardship
Stewardship programs promote the right drug, dose, route and duration and discourage unnecessary use. Nurses support them by teaching patients and following best practices.
Category: Antibiotic Resistance
Question 13
C. difficile can damage the colon lining and form yellowish plaques, a severe condition called pseudomembranous colitis.
Missing Word
pseudomembranous
Pseudomembranous colitis develops when antibiotics disrupt the normal colon bacteria and C. difficile toxins injure the lining. Plaques of inflammatory debris form false membranes on the bowel wall.
Category: Secondary Infections
Question 14
When entering the room of a patient with C. difficile infection, the nurse puts on gloves and a gown as part of contact precautions.
Missing Word
gown
A gown and gloves keep spores on the patient, surfaces and equipment from reaching the nurse's clothing and hands. They are put on before entering the room, and hand hygiene with soap and water follows their removal.
Category: Secondary Infections
Question 15
A patient with fulminant C. difficile colitis complicated by toxic megacolon may need a colectomy, surgical removal of part or all of the colon.
Missing Word
colectomy
A colectomy removes the diseased colon. It is reserved for fulminant infection that does not respond to medical treatment, while fecal microbiota transplant is used for infection that keeps recurring.
Category: Secondary Infections